Criteria for Preparing National Plan

The focus countries are expected to prepare a national plan providing the following information

PRESENT SCENARIO IN THE COUNTRY

• The magnitude of the problem
• Policy of the Government with regard to educational services for children with visual impairment
• Likely challenges in expanding educational services for children with visual impairment

GOALS FOR THE CAMPAIGN

• How many children with visual impairment are likely to be provided access to education?

WHAT APPROACHES ARE APPROPRIATE FOR ACHIEVING THE DESIRED GOALS?

• What service delivery approaches (special schools, integrated education, inclusive settings, etc.) are currently being utilized in the country?
• What approaches are considered appropriate in the implementation of the EFA-VI campaign in the country?
• If the suggested approaches are different from the existing country approaches, is the country prepared to adapt?
• What measures are necessary to get acceptance for the suggested service delivery models in the country?

WHAT NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED GOALS?

• What types of personnel and professionals are required to achieve the desired coverage of children with visual impairment in each year of the implementation?
• What preparations such as conducting orientation programmes, teacher training activities, enrichment courses, etc., are necessary in each year?
• What facilities at present are available for human resource development?
• What additional arrangements need to be made for addressing the human resources issues?
• What types of learning materials are necessary for human resource development?
• Does the country have necessary trainers for addressing human resource development?
• If not, what type of assistance is required from the EFA-VI campaign?
• Who are the major stakeholders who should constitute the national task force for the EFA-VI campaign?
• What should be the terms of reference for the EFA-VI global campaign?

WHAT MECHANISMS WILL BE ADOPTED TO ENSURE SUPPORT SERVICES?

• What mechanisms are available / will be useful in the early identification and assessment of children with visual impairment for making appropriate placement in educational services?
• What is the existing mechanism of providing learning materials and assistive devices to children with visual impairment enrolled in schools?
• Assuming that the campaign will enroll more children, what mechanism is available to ensure provision of such services to all children with visual impairment enrolled?
• Is there a mechanism to provide early intervention services in order to facilitate effective inclusion of the child in the mainstream schools?
• Is there an institute in the country that can serve as a centre of excellence for preparing human resources, providing support services, etc.?
• If such a single institute is not available, is there a possibility of developing a network of institutions to provide the required services?
• What will be the requirement in terms of additional human resources, equipment, materials, etc., to make the concept of centres of excellence functional in the country selected as the focus country.

HOW WILL THE COUNTRY ENSURE DOCUMENTATION OF DATA?

• What mechanisms the country will use to document data regarding enrolment of children with visual impairment, dropout prevention, etc?
• What types of tools will be used to document this information?
• What is the periodicity to document the information?
• What types of human resources are required to document such data?
• How will the project record qualitative information regarding the impact of the campaign?

WHAT TYPES OF CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAMMES WILL BE ORGANISED?

• What types of advocacy programmes will be organized in each year of the quadrennium?
• What types of impact these programmes will have on the overall impact of the campaign?

BUDGET REQUIREMENT (only for activities)

EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THE CAMPAIGN

• Number of children with visual impairment expected to be benefited by the campaign
• How many teachers, parents and other personnel would have been trained by the end of each year to expand services to these children?
• What types of qualitative impact the campaign is expected to bring in on the quality of education of children with visual impairment?
• What impact the campaign activities will have on the overall education system of the country?