In the Irkutsk region this year they plan to create a distance learning center for children with disabilities under the national project Education. The project should help thousands of children who cannot attend school gain access to learning, communication, and educational resources. Federal and regional cofinancing is planned for its launch, and the funds will go to equip student and teacher workplaces, as well as the center itself.
One of the new directions of the national project "Education" is the creation of distance learning centers for children with disabilities.Our city is also planning to create such a center this year. This was announced at a meeting of the council on the implementation of national projects by the Minister of Education of the Irkutsk Region, Viktor Basyuk.
The center will be created on the basis of the regional state educational institution of additional professional education “Institute for the Development of Education of the Irkutsk Region”. The Institute has already prepared information on the number of children in municipal districts who need distance learning. “At present, there are more than 4.5 thousand children with psychophysical development problems in the Irkutsk Region who study in 38 special correctional institutions, and almost 6 thousand children with disabilities who study in general education institutions,” Viktor Basyuk said. “As of April 1, 2009, 2,364 children with disabilities in the Irkutsk Region do not attend educational institutions. These children experience a lack of communication with peers and adults, have limited access to information resources, and, while studying at home, have a low level of education.”
The federal program, designed for 2009–2012, provides for the phased creation of conditions for distance learning for children with disabilities in each constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The project will be implemented on the basis of co-financing from the federal and regional budgets. First of all, funds will be directed to equipping centers, installing software and methodological support in the apartments of children with disabilities, training personnel, as well as supplying and connecting the necessary equipment.
According to Viktor Basyuk, the preliminary amount of subsidies for the Irkutsk Region from the federal budget in the first year of the project implementation will be 16 million rubles, provided that co-financing from the regional budget amounts to at least 4 million rubles. Of this, 10 million will go to equipping the workplaces of children with disabilities, 1.5 million rubles to teachers’ workplaces, and 2.5 million rubles to the hardware and software complex of the Distance Education Center. The cost of a basic student workstation ranges from 105.5 thousand to 480 thousand rubles depending on the child’s health impairments, while a teacher’s workstation ranges from 102.7 thousand to 111 thousand rubles.