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Graduate students with disabilities to be exempted from 90% of tuition fees

By By Rand Dalgamouni AMMAN - Students with disabilities will be exempted from paying 90 per cent of their tuition fees in graduate study programmes, Higher Council for the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) Secretary General Amal Nahhas said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Higher Education took the decision based on a recommendation by the HCD, she added at the HCD's Second National Conference on the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities, Phase II (2010-2015).

"After HRH Prince Raad [HCD president] met with Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Wajih Owais on Monday, the minister sent us a letter in the evening detailing measures that the ministry will take to support people with disabilities [PWD]," Nahhas explained.

The Prince met with Owais on the sidelines of the conference, where he acquainted the minister with some of the conference's recommendations regarding the higher education sector, including increasing the exemption percentage from 50 per cent to 90 per cent and applying building codes for the disabled in the Kingdom's universities.

In the letter, Owais also said the ministry will take the necessary measures to apply the building codes in new and old university buildings, and to equip public libraries and other utilities to facilitate PWD access.

Participants in the two-day conference, which concluded yesterday, discussed mechanisms to implement the National Strategy for PWD, of which higher education is one of the 12 main topics, and define the role of public institutions in its application.

During the closing ceremony yesterday, Prince Raad said the event provided an opportunity to recognise the responsibilities and tasks of institutions and ministries in order to institutionalise work to provide PWD with qualitative services.

He voiced hope that ministries and public institutions will apply the National Strategy for PWD as planned and within the specified time frame.

Mark Jessen, director general of the British Council, which co-organised the conference with the HCD and the British embassy, said the two-year cooperation between the UK and the HCD has helped enhance its capacity to monitor and evaluate services provided to PWD.

He added that a five-day workshop will be organised next month for HCD staff to set indicators to form "the basis of an effective monitoring and evaluation process".

Recommendations in the field of health and disabilities included establishing early detection units at public hospitals, run by experts in all types of disabilities.

Participants also urged the health ministry to provide free health insurance to PWD after assessing their families' financial situation.

On inclusive education, they recommended that the Ministry of Education re-establish the special education administration, while on economic empowerment, the labour ministry was urged to form a unit to monitor the cases of working PWD and companies' application of the laws regarding their employment.

Under the Law on the Rights of PWD, private and public sector institutions with over 25 and less than 50 employees are obligated to employ one disabled person, while in companies with over 50 employees, 4 per cent must be PWD.

Participants gave special attention to the media sector, recommending that chief editors of media outlets regularly meet with members of the HCD to get acquainted with the proper terminology on PWD and their issues.

The recommendations also called for a quota for PWD in Parliament in the new elections law.

In addition, the proposals touched upon legislation, rehabilitation and support services, family empowerment and social protection, accessibility, sports and abuse of PWD.

© Jordan Times 2011