Brasília, July 7, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Textbooks, basic tools for the classroom activities of teachers and students, will also be sent to schools for the disabled, beginning in 2005. More than 200 thousand special students, from the first to the eighth grade, will receive texts in mathematics, Portuguese, sciences, history, and geography. Disabled students who study in regular schools already receive these books. In all, over 500 thousand children will benefit from the program.

The material will be distributed by the National Textbook Program (PNLD), to blind children, whose book will be in braille, as well as deaf, mute, and otherwise handicapped students, who will receive the same books as unimpaired students. "The books are a guarantee of the right to education," emphasizes the chief of staff of the Ministry of Education's Secretariat of Special Education (Seesp/Mec), Cláudia Gribowski.

According to data from the 2002 School Census, 2,409 institutions are eligible to receive the instructional materials. This total includes both private non-profit and philanthropical organizations, such as Associations of Parents and Friends of Exceptional Children (Apaes), and public entities.

According to Gribowski, books for special students needn't be different from other books, because teachers should use the material according to their own teaching methods. "Textbooks are a tool; what varies is the method practiced in each school," she explains.

Reporter: Marina Domingues
Translator: David Silberstein