Campus Visited by Afghan Special Needs Educators
On Friday, July 16th, through JICA’s teacher training program for Afghanistan’s special needs education, 18 Afghan educators visited our campus. The visitors were either academic council members of Afghanistan’s teacher training department or instructors of teacher training college. This training program was carried out to improve Afghanistan’s special needs education through special needs teacher training in Japan, as a part of JICA’s joint project for enhancing special needs education in Afghan teacher education, led by Professor Hideo Nakata of University of Tsukuba’s Center for Research on International Cooperation in Educational Development.
On the day of their visit, Director Kuribayashi welcomed the delegate, and Associate Professor Isaka of the special needs education course gave a lecture. In the lecture, based on the observation on the 14th and 15th at a special needs school and an elementary school with special needs class, Japanese special needs education methods and other topics were explained with examples, which helped participants deepen their understanding of Japanese special needs education. Also, active debate took place regarding what should be their guideline once they return to their home country. On the education of the special needs schools they visited, the trainees made comments such as “we were impressed with how Japanese teachers face the children with heartfelt love, as if the children were their own,” and “we could see the importance of the special needs education based on the individual educational support plans and guidelines.”
Also, the visitors communicated with the undergraduate and graduate students during lunchtime.
They spent their time at our university in a relaxed atmosphere throughout their training.