Center IRIS
The Center for Education, Rehabilitation, Inclusion, and Counseling for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Center IRIS), formerly known as the Institute for Blind and Visually Impaired Youth Ljubljana, is the only public institution of its kind in Slovenia. It was established in the academic year 1918/1919 in Ljubljana, then moved to Kočevje, and at the end of World War II returned to Ljubljana, where it remains to this day.
Its fundamental purpose remains the same: to provide adapted educational programs for the blind and visually impaired. With its programs and mobile services throughout Slovenia, it covers blind and visually impaired individuals (including those with multiple impairments) in preschool and school age. It offers specialized knowledge and, with its expertise, advises and educates all interested parties: the blind and visually impaired, as well as the wider community (for example, on how to adapt images, text, and surroundings for people with visual impairments in various public institutions).
TEAM MEMBERS: Marija Repe Kocman, Jera Svetek, Tanja Rudolf, Anja Ponikvar, Nina Berložnik
School for Visually Impaired Pupils “Veljko Ramadanovic”, Serbia
School for Visually Impaired Pupils “Veljko Ramadanovic” is a complex educational institution.
Its main activity is education. We have programms for early intervention, preschool, primary school, secondary school and an educational programme for adults. Our school is also a Resource Centre – a centre for support of visually impaired children educated in Serbian primary, secondary schools and pre-schools.
We produce books in Braille, in large print, tactile maps for educational purposes, teaching supplies for initial reading and writing, Braille supplier for Mathematics; social games; we have a sound production studio where audio books are made.
State School for Visual Impaired Children and Young “Dimitar Vlahov”, North Macedonia
The State School for Visually Impaired Children and Youth ,,,Dimitar Vlahov,,, located in Skopje, Macedonia, has been serving the community for 70 years and is the only institution in Macedonia that provides education for visually impaired individuals. The school offers a basic nine-year education program that follows a curriculum identical to that of regular schools, with adaptations in teaching methods and the use of specific teaching aids and assistive technologies to accommodate the needs of visually impaired students.
Additionally, the school provides secondary vocational education in three fields: health, graphic, and traffic vocation. The school also includes a student dormitory where students can stay during the week.
Two years ago, the school established a department for the support of inclusive education, which collaborates with regular schools to offer various forms of support to teachers, managerss, parents, and visually impaired students.
Scoala Gimnaziala Speciala Pentru Deficienti de Vedere, Romania
The Bucharest School for Visually impaired Children was created in 1956. Since then, it provides services for both, blind and low vision children, as well as educational services for children with associated disabilities or multiple sensorial deficiencies. They come in our institution from the capital and more than 10 other counties.The school is attended by 120 students , with ages between 3 -20 years .
Starting with 2024, a new professional class was accredited, where students who graduate the secondary school will be able to train in the field of public catering and pastry .
The institution provides highly specialized and personalized services from early intervention to preparing the students for the high school entrance exam. The school offers students specialized educational services, the opportunity to develop, to prepare for life and a future profession in an optimal setting, supervised by specialists. Visually impaired children are taught on the bases of the national curricula, the same one used in the mainstream schools, but the methods and resources are adapted to their needs.
Osnovna škola Dragan Kovačević, Serbia
The school started its work under the present name in 1970. Our school educates children with various developmental disabilities and our strategic tendency is to grow into a school with an integrative learning curriculum. As an educational institution, we are in the never-ending process of developing and becoming better.
Today, many of our students are mature individuals, parents, ready for independent living. The main goal of the school is to enable optimal development of individual possibilities of each child through individual support and monitoring program. The work of our teachers, special educators has helped many students overcome developmental problems and they continue their education at high schools, colleges and academies.
We help every child become more independent and be appreciated, since disability is not inability.
