Special Olympics UAE honours 99 schools for inclusivity
UCS programme trains administrators, teachers to organise sports activities
Atotal of 99 Unified Champion Schools (UCS) were honoured by Special Olympics UAE for creating inclusive school environments.
The ceremony at New York University Abu Dhabi was attended by Shamma Al Mazroui, 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’, taking place in Abu Dhabi on January 21-28.
“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,” Al Mazroui said.
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 UCS programme provides comprehensive training and development resources to teachers and school administrators to enable them to organise unified sports activities.
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.
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.”
Shamma Al Mazroui | Minister of State for Youth Affairs