Abu Dhabi: A total of 99 Unified Champion Schools (UCS) have been honoured by Special Olympics UAE for their effort to create inclusive school environments.
in a celebration held at New York University Abu Dhabi
The ceremony at the New York University was attended by Shamma bint Suhail bin Faris Al Mazrouei, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and chairman of the board of trustees of the Special Olympics UAE. Celebrations were held alongside a global event titled ‘Towards a Globally Unified Education System’, which is taking place in Abu Dhabi from January 21-28 and is organised by the Special Olympics International Global Center for Inclusion in Education.
International participants will make interactive visits to UCS schools across the UAE to learn more about the level of response to the Unified Champions Schools programme, and the challenges facing its implementation.
Promoting inclusion
At the ceremony, representatives of the UCS schools showcased the initiatives they had undertaken to promote inclusion. The wider event, organised by the Special Olympics International Global Center for Inclusion in Education, saw participation from 17 countries.
“We are inspired by today’s event, which supports inclusion in school communities on a global scale. Inclusion not only enhances the academic experience of students of determination and their united partners, but also promotes a culture of diversity and acceptance of differences, which has always been a feature of Emirati society. The event will help in spreading the successful Emirati experience with inclusion in education globally, especially that the Special Olympics International Global Center for Inclusion in Education is headquartered in Abu Dhabi,” Al Mazrouei said.
“We appreciate our teachers, administrators, unified partners, parents, and caregivers, for their dedication and collaboration with the Special Olympics UAE to help them empower People of Determination, which has propelled the UAE to a leadership position in inclusion in education,” she added.
The UCS Programme
The UCS programme is one of the largest and most successful Special Olympics UAE’s initiatives, which aims to achieve inclusion in education and increase the participation of People of Determination with their Unified Partners in schools. The programme was launched in 2019 with a focus on consolidating the achievements and legacy of the World Games Abu Dhabi 2019, which was hosted for the first time in the region.
The programme strives to achieve inclusion in society as a whole, and not only within schools. To achieve this goal, the UCS programme provides comprehensive training and development resources for teachers and school administrators to enable them to successfully organise unified sports activities. uring the last academic year, 255 schools achieved the Unified School status, and the number of active participants in UCS across the UAE surpassed 400 schools and 20,000 students.
Three pillars
The programme has three main pillars: Unified Sports, Inclusive Youth Leadership, and the Whole School Engagement. A school must demonstrate its success in creating an inclusive school environment, by leveraging these three pillars, in order to achieve the UCS status.
