المملكة: Urgent – “Education” exempts cleft lip and deaf students from oral exams

Revealed Oral evaluations, provided that their speech is incomprehensible to the listener.

The Ministry explained that this exemption also includes deaf students who suffer from total or partial hearing loss

. The required oral response will be replaced by any form of alternative communication determined by the student’s individual educational plan.

This directive comes within the “Seventh Rule” of the Student Evaluation Regulations, which focuses on evaluating students with disabilities.

Written Tests

The Ministry stressed the importance of taking into account all speech and speech disorders, and stressed that these students should not be compared to their peers in General Educationor holding them accountable for errors resulting directly from these disturbances.

The regulations gave teachers the authority to replace oral assessments with written tests when needed, in coordination with the school’s student guidance committee. Communication disorders specialists or speech training teachers can be sought to ensure fairness in the evaluation and take into account the individual case.

In a related context, a student who suffers from “stuttering” is exempted from evaluating oral recital skills. The procedures allow the use of appropriate alternative means of communication, such as sign language, communicative devices, image exchange programs, and iris devices, especially for severe cases such as cerebral palsy.

The seventh rule dealt in detail with the “learning difficulties” category, stressing that all students classified within this category will benefit from special assessment tools and methods that take into account their individual abilities at all educational levels.

Individual assessment

The Ministry stressed the necessity of applying measurement and evaluation tools. Individually and documented in the student’s individual educational plan.

To clarify the implementation mechanisms, the Ministry stated that if reading represents difficulty for the student, the questions must be read aloud to him, and if writing is the obstacle, he can answer orally, or have his answer recorded audio, or have the answer written down for him.

The procedures took into account students who suffer from attention problems, as it stipulated that they be evaluated individually, away from distractions, and given rest periods. For students who show excessive activity, they are allowed to move during assessment to relieve tension. In cases of memorization difficulties, the material is divided or general concepts are limited to evaluating.

The Ministry confirmed that these procedures aim to achieve educational justice and ensure the quality of outcomes, by applying the principle of equal opportunities in an educational environment that is stimulating and inclusive of all groups.

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