The government held the meeting to share their plan to ensure the integration and preservation of the rights of disabled people.
Rabat – The Minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and the Family, Jamila El Moussali has presented the government’s actions and measures aimed to enable people with disabilities in accessing their fundamental rights in the fields of education and teaching.
Speaking at a national meeting on the International Day of Disabled Persons, El Moussali said that the provision of support for the disabled in Morocco is dependent on the provision of know-how, training, and knowledge in the field.
The minister recalled that the first national qualification program for professionals in the care of people with autism “Rafik” is in the implementation phase. The program aims to provide support to people diagnosed with autism in their education, training, and qualification by qualified practitioners in place.
El Moussali added that the program intends to qualify 3600 practitioners, including professionals and families, noting that a first group of 60 managers was set up in 2019, while two more groups are set to be formed within the next two years.
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The meeting also focused on “accessible cities,” the national program aiming to set up physical accessibility in the most important Moroccan cities, to develop a normative and regulatory framework governing the sector, capacity building in terms of accessibility for actors of local authorities, and raising awareness on the importance of accessibility.
To support disabled people technically, the government has signed 13 local agreements with local authorities and associations in order to develop public spaces with accessibility, according to plans adapted to the needs of people with disabilities.
The top official noted that the year 2018 saw the recruitment of 50 disabled people, while the government is preparing a contest to hire a further 200 people in state posts.
Subsidies from the Fund for Social Cohesion dedicated to people with disabilities reached MAD 508.36 million from 2015 to 2018, with 15,000 beneficiaries in education and 1,207 beneficiaries in projects generating income.
In the meeting, the minister and attendees also paid tribute to sportsmen with disabilities for their individual or collective achievements in international competitions.