“Educational Programs on Anti-Discrimination on a Par with EU Standards” (EDUPAD) is a 15-month-long project funded by the EuropeAid Programme of the European Commission and the Republic of Turkey.
The project activities started in Istanbul with the study visits of two primary schools in the European and the Asian sides of the city. On January 19th and 20th, 2015, CESIE met with the leading organization, Turkish Spastic Children’s Foundation (TSCV), at their offices, to mark the official beginning of their cooperation on EDUPAD.
The project aims to contribute to making the necessary adaptations in elementary school programs on anti-discrimination towards people with disabilities, so that they are compatible with EU standards, and to strengthen the relationships and enable an exchange between the civil society actors in EU member countries and in Turkey.
EDUPAD responds to the need for the Turkish society to become more aware of the discrimination of individuals with special needs, and focuses on the research of best practices in Europe and the development of new educational materials for primary schools in Turkey.
The foreseen activities include: a research to compare curricula and practices in Italian, Turkish and European primary schools; the development of a pilot model of education inspired by the research; the development of specific educational materials to raise awareness in primary schools about the fight against discrimination of people with special needs; the implementation of awareness-raising seminars in 30 schools in the district of Atasehir (Istanbul, Turkey); the organization of educational workshops for guidance teachers and school vice-principals; and the proposal of alternative classroom activities to the Turkish Ministry of Education, to be included in the national curriculum.
For further information, please contact school@cesie.org
