Whilst The Inspire Foundation is most known for its work with children and adults with disabilities, this morning the NGO announced the opening of a learning center with a difference. “This learning center will cater for people with specific and non-specific learning difficulties, but who do not necessarily have a disability,” explained Inspire’s COO, Antonello Gauci.
A learning difficulty affects the way a person learns new things, and processes information. It may also affect the way an individual communicates. Although a learning difficulty is not necessarily a disability, without the proper support a child will miss out on educational milestones and will face difficulties later on in life.
Inspire’s learning center will be entirely focused on helping children and young adults cope and overcome various learning difficulties with special emphasis on literacy and numeracy difficulties such as dyslexia or dyscalculia.
It will provide students with the appropriate support and will help them through personalized and multisensory intervention. This is done through various group or individual sessions delivered by qualified and experienced tutors, either in the home or at The Inspire Learning Centre in Bulebel. “The Learning Center will also hold workshops and seminars to train parents and educators to be in a better position to help children facing such difficulties,” said Mr. Gauci.
“We are very grateful for the generous contribution of the Children in Need Foundation. It is through its very generous funding that was raised during the Sardinia to Malta Rowing Challenge 2, in 2013, that the Learning Centre became a reality,” added Mr. Gauci
Mr. Daniel Abela founder of The Children in Need Foundation, who also took part in the rowing challenge that funded the project, said that “the foundation is all about helping children that somehow, through no fault of their own, have come to face challenges. It is our role and responsibility as carers and guardians of such precious gifts, to go to any length to make the life of these children easier and closest possible to what we perceive as normal. Inspire does a sterling job in trying to prepare these children for the world out there. It is for this reason that as a foundation we decided to sponsor this educational centre, a first for Malta, which I believe will prove to be a great tool and asset in the hands of Inspire to continue in their endeavor to help children with learning difficulties.”
The Minister for Education and Employment, Evarist Bartolo thanked the foundation for their invaluable help and work towards helping families and children overcome these challenges in their lives. “Children are our responsibility,” he said. “They are the responsibility of each and every one of us not only parents and educators. They are the responsibility of the Government, the State, the whole community. I consider it criminal to deprive any child from a proper education, regardless of their natural abilities. In the past we might have failed children with different abilities because we didn’t know any better or didn’t have the resources to address the issue. But now it is high time that we address illiteracy, absenteeism and early school dropouts. We need to do whatever it takes to give every child the best possible chance to learn and, it is our responsibility to find out how a child learns and, to make it easier. This new Learning Centre at Inspire, is a great step in that direction. By helping children who are struggling with learning difficulties, the centre will cater for the most vulnerable group that are most likely to fall on the wayside of education. It is thanks to projects like these, the people who fund them and the experts who run them, that we can keep improving our educational system, and in turn our society at large.”
For more information about The Inspire Learning Centre please contact Ms. Charlene Borg on 20928100 ext 120 or Charlene.borg@inspire.org.mt
