Maria Grzegorzewska, the creator of special education in Poland, would surely be proud to see the conditions in which young people study at the Special Educational and Care Centre in Zgorzelec. Especially now, after the building of a former warehouse, adapted to new needs, was commissioned and modern equipment was purchased. EU funds helped make this possible.
“I am very pleased that, for the first time, students with moderate and severe intellectual disabilities can take part in this project,” says Małgorzata Łasek-Dowiat, the centre’s director. “They acquire various useful skills in new, well-equipped workshops: communication and social skills, arts and technical skills, culinary and catering skills, and household and cleaning skills. This means that later, with a little support, they can function better in their surroundings.”
A Barrier-Free Building
The centre’s facilities have been expanded by a modernised building. The work lasted more than two years. It is used by primary-school graduates who need conditions suited to people with special needs in order to acquire vocational knowledge.
For people with visual impairments, the spatial information and wayfinding system is a major improvement, including tactile maps, video intercoms and Braille markings. Students who have mobility problems or use wheelchairs can easily reach all rooms, regardless of the floor, thanks to automatic entrance doors, widened internal doors, threshold-free passageways and a lift. Call systems have been installed in the toilets.
Specialist equipment was also purchased, including communication devices for people who have difficulty communicating, an electronic magnifier for students with visual disorders, a keyboard for students with paralysis or paresis of the upper limbs, and devices that read printed text.
Therapy and Vocational Training
The rebuilt building houses modern vocational workshops and thematic workshops for students at the first-level vocational school and for students at the school preparing them for employment. Young people can learn the fundamentals of working as an assistant locksmith or in catering. In total, six classroom-workshops and five workshops were created, including one as unusual as the “quiet room”. It is a magical, warm and peaceful place, equipped with soft, exclusively white furniture, mirrors, fibre-optic curtains, canopies and waterfalls of light, all of which greatly aid sensory therapy.
Małgorzata Michalik, chair of the parents’ council, reveals that the children received the new investment with great interest. “The building is welcoming to every student and well equipped. For example, the kitchen has better equipment than many a catering establishment. Thanks to this, graduates will not feel lost when they start work. These are conditions fit for the 21st century,” she adds.
65 Years of Tradition
The Maria Grzegorzewska Special Educational and Care Centre in Zgorzelec has existed since 1958. It is a public institution for students aged 7–24 with varying degrees of disability and multiple disabilities. The Zgorzelec SOSW provides education to 168 students in various types of schools.
Both projects—the reconstruction of the warehouse and the purchase of specialist equipment and teaching aids—cost almost PLN 6 million, of which more than PLN 4.7 million was contributed by the European Union.
Information material from the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
