TY - JOUR
T1 - Epilepsy and school in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region
T2 - The current situation, challenges, and solutions
AU - Kissani, Najib
AU - Balili, Khaoula
AU - Mesraoua, Boulenouar
AU - Abdulla, Fatema
AU - Bashar, Ghaieb
AU - Al-Baradie, Raidah
AU - Elsahli, Rabha
AU - Ibrahim, Eetedal
AU - Al-Asmi, Abdullah
AU - Mounir, Nesma
AU - Kishk, Nirmeen Adel
AU - Harharah, Amina
AU - Abu Aliqa, Ahmed
AU - Honein, Arlette
AU - Arabi, Maher
AU - Asadi-Pooya, Ali Akbar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Education is a human right that plays a key role in social and economic development. Children having active epilepsy may not be properly schooled in ordinary school structures. Students with epilepsy (SWE) are often faced with academic barriers. The lack of information about the current status of special education for SWE obliged the researchers to try to describe the existing reality of the special education practices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We disseminated a simple self-administered questionnaire via email to main healthcare professionals involved in epilepsy care in the MENA region, and we also did a literature search on the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Embase engines. We ranked the countries in terms of their educational system. The 1st group contains the most advanced educational system, including specialized schools for SWE. The 2nd group contains an educational system with specialized but less structured schools. The 3rd group includes countries using integrated classes or classes mixing many children with cognitive disabilities. The 4th group includes countries with ordinary classes for SWE, and finally, the 5th group with no schooling for children with epilepsy (CWE). This study indicates that 60% of the countries in the MENA region belong to the 3rd group; there is only one country in each of the first two groups. This work highlights the need to develop structured environments for schooling for SWE in the MENA region.
AB - Education is a human right that plays a key role in social and economic development. Children having active epilepsy may not be properly schooled in ordinary school structures. Students with epilepsy (SWE) are often faced with academic barriers. The lack of information about the current status of special education for SWE obliged the researchers to try to describe the existing reality of the special education practices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. We disseminated a simple self-administered questionnaire via email to main healthcare professionals involved in epilepsy care in the MENA region, and we also did a literature search on the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Embase engines. We ranked the countries in terms of their educational system. The 1st group contains the most advanced educational system, including specialized schools for SWE. The 2nd group contains an educational system with specialized but less structured schools. The 3rd group includes countries using integrated classes or classes mixing many children with cognitive disabilities. The 4th group includes countries with ordinary classes for SWE, and finally, the 5th group with no schooling for children with epilepsy (CWE). This study indicates that 60% of the countries in the MENA region belong to the 3rd group; there is only one country in each of the first two groups. This work highlights the need to develop structured environments for schooling for SWE in the MENA region.
KW - Disabilities
KW - Epilepsy
KW - MENA region
KW - School
KW - Special education
KW - Students with epilepsy
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U2 - 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107325
DO - 10.1016/j.yebeh.2020.107325
M3 - Article
C2 - 32717708
AN - SCOPUS:85088359213
SN - 1525-5050
VL - 112
JO - Epilepsy and Behavior
JF - Epilepsy and Behavior
M1 - 107325
ER -
