More than 4,400 Peruvian teachers dedicated to special education may be recognized for their innovations in the “Digital Education for Special Basic Education” contest, promoted by Fundación Telefónica Movistar and Fundación ‘la Caixa’. This is a competition that will reward teachers who create virtual educational resources, whose application has one or more pedagogical achievements in children or adolescents with disabilities in schools in Peru.
José Carlos Vásquez, Fundación Telefónica’s digital education specialist, reported that the purpose of the contest is to motivate teachers to produce their own digital educational resources suited to the characteristics and needs of their students with disabilities.
“For example, for motor disabilities, there are teachers who manufacture orthotic devices, which are supports tailored to the physical needs of each child to make it easier for them to manipulate digital devices”Vasquez commented. He also indicates that in cases of multiple disabilities, teachers use tools such as exe learning and Prezi that allow the creation of educational digital resources.
It should be noted that in the country only 12.2% of students with disabilities between 6 and 16 years old know how to read and write, according to the National Institute of Statistics. While 4 out of 10 schoolchildren with disabilities complete primary school, according to the latest school census from the Ministry of Education.
How to participate in the contest?
Teachers can apply individually or in groups of three members. Your digital projects must be original, interactive, accessible, easy to use and useful for schoolchildren with some type of disability or multiple disabilities. Also, include one or more multimedia elements (images, audio, video).
The resources can be developed with various tools, from spreadsheets, presentation software, open source programs and programming, among others. In addition, the resources must work on various devices and operating systems, such as Android, Windows or Linux tablets or computers, as well as Internet or intranet browsers. Enrollment is made in the Educared educational community of Fundación Telefónica: educared.fundaciontelefonica.com.pe
Jury
The evaluating jury of the “Digital Education for Special Basic Education” contest is made up of the president of the National Council for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities (CONADIS), Marco Antonio Gamarra; the expert in educational innovation and former Minister of Education, Juan Cadillo León; and the director of Fundación Telefónica, Elizabeth Galdo Marín.
FACT
It is estimated that in Peru, there are more than 77,490 students with disabilities in the Peruvian educational system.
