Children who attend state schools for disabled students will be able to experience different grades of schooling, and move from primary to secondary and post-secondary level, under fresh reform.

The reform, unveiled yesterday after six months of public consultation, aims to ensure disabled children are integrated into mainstream education and given the support they need to become active citizens.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina said under the reform the four state schools for disabled children would become resource centres, each dedicated to a particular schooling level, and would be incorporated within the college system.

This would ensure the special needs schools were able to share resources with other mainstream schools within the college, Educational Services Directorate director general Micheline Sciberras said.

Until now, disabled students have been divided among the four schools according to their type of disability, which resulted in a mix of children of various ages and competences. This also meant children did not get the opportunity to move on to different levels of schooling, like their mainstream peers.

Through the reform, San Miguel school in Pembroke will become a resource centre for primary level education for children between three and 11.

Students will then move on to Guardian Angel school in Ħamrun, a secondary school for students between 11 and 16. Both schools will also cater for the needs of students who attend mainstream schools and could need occasional therapy. Helen Keller school in Qrendi will offer secondary education for young adults with severe disabilities. These students will stay on at San Miguel until they turn 13, then move to Helen Keller until the age of 22. After that they can move into adult centres.

Dun Manwel Attard in Wardija will become a centre for young adults, who will move there after secondary level. Here they will be prepared to pursue their studies or enter the working world.

Currently, about 200 students attended the four schools, Ms Sciberras said.

As the reform will start being implemented immediately, some students may have to be moved through transition programmes.

Ms Cristina said about €10,000 had been allocated to purchase books and learning material for disabled students.

She added that the special schools’ restructuring was in line with other reforms such as the one addressing the transition between primary and secondary schools.

These reforms aimed at ensuring inclusion and helping students reach their potential. Another objective was to support teachers of disabled students through training programmes.

Ms Cristina added that there was still work to be done to improve the quality of schooling for disabled students. Within the next weeks she will be setting up a working group to draw up guidelines to address the problems of transport for disabled students. She explained that, after secondary school, these students had a problem with transport that often discouraged them from attending their studies.

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