On September 8, the members of the Steering Committee of the EU/CoE joint project Building Capacity for Inclusion in Education – INCLUDE in Kosovo* held their 5th meeting in Strasbourg.

Villano Qiriazi, Head of the Council of Europe Education Department, opened the meeting by thanking all partners for their outstanding commitment and involvement in the project and in achieving all the planned project results.

After the welcoming words given by Luljeta Kabashi from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation and Stergios Tragoudas from the EU Delegation in Kosovo, the members of the Steering Committee learned about the progress of the project activities and the changes that it brings to students, teachers and entire local communities. In particular:

• 305 education professionals, 33 resources centres’ staff and 33 municipal officers were trained on creating democratic and inclusive learning environments and 50 primary and secondary schools are implementing action plans to make their environment more inclusive and democratic;
• 970 children from learning centres have been engaged in various education, sports and other interactive activities through grants given to civil society organisations;
• To mark Diversity Day, a framework document for the inclusion of students with special educational needs in upper secondary education was launched during a roundtable held at the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.

The Steering Committee members provided valuable advice on the way forward and expressed their readiness to continue their close cooperation with the Council of Europe. They also held fruitful discussions on how to make the training manuals on Democratic and Inclusive Learning Community developed within the project relevant to other education professionals across Europe.

Members of the Committee include the EU Task Manager, representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Prime Minister Office, the Head of the Collegium of Municipal Education Directorates, local CSOs and the Council of Europe.

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.