The Ministry of Social Affairs is seeking to establish three public centres for the care of children with autism spectrum disorders in the coming period, head of the General Committee for Social Promotion at the Ministry Ibrahim Ben Driss said Wednesday.
In a statement to TAP on the sidelines of the first Arab conference on “Autistic children between protection and integration”, he pointed out that the ministry has gone ahead to set up a centre for autistic children in Sidi Hassine Essijoumi, the first of its kind in Tunisia, and is working to generalise this experience in all the country’s governorates.
For her part, Raja Ben Brahim, Director General of the Department for the Advancement of Persons with disabilities at the Ministry of Social Affairs, said that the specialised centres run by associations take care of around a thousand autistic children.
In a statement to TAP, she added that Tunisia aims to integrate a greater number of children with disabilities in schools as part of the 2023-2024 national strategy, in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Health and Social Affairs, adding that nearly 5,000 students with special needs will be integrated into educational institutions, by 2023.
This Arab conference, organised by the Ministry of Social Affairs with the support of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, will run until 2 March with the participation of experts and specialists in the field from several Arab countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Morocco.
It will be an opportunity to discuss issues related to the phenomenon of autism from a medical point of view and the difficulties in terms of care and integration.
It aims to promote programmes for autistic children through environmental and community development, capacity building, social awareness and the creation of specialised institutions.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse