The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has set up a “Sensory Perception Room” at an elementary school in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, to support students with special needs. The room, launched in conjunction with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, is designed to enhance students’ sensory skills in touch, movement, balance, sight, hearing, smell and taste.
In a speech at the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Türkiye’s Ambassador to Sarajevo Sadık Babür Girgin expressed his happiness about the project, which “strengthens ties between the two countries.” He thanked TIKA and everyone involved for their contributions.
Naida Hota Muminovic, the education minister of the Sarajevo Canton, highlighted the importance of the initiative. “The effort of children facing challenges to rejoin real life serves as an inspiration to other children as well,” she said.
Muminovic also mentioned ongoing efforts to train teachers for special needs education in the canton, stressing the need for equipment and aides to establish more sensory rooms. “The help from our friends at TIKA has greatly enriched education here, and we will make sure to recognize its value,” she added.
Erdinç Işık, the coordinator of TIKA Sarajevo, explained that the materials used in the sensory room help improve students’ motor skills and contribute to their rehabilitation processes. “We have implemented more than 20 education-related projects in the last two years, not only for special needs students but also for others. Our goal is to help students adapt to social life more easily,” Işık said.
As part of the event, students performed the late Turkish star Barış Manço’s iconic children’s song “Arkadaşım Eşek” (“My Friend, the Donkey”), a song that has been sung by generations of Turkish children and holds symbolic cultural significance.