St Edward’s College insists it always supported a seven-year-old student, a wheelchair user, and even made structural alterations to the school building to help him.
The school denied dragging its feet to file a formal application for the boy to be assigned a learning support assistant. It said it had started the process on May 5 following discussions with the boy’s mother.
The statements were made in a counter protest filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court in reply to a judicial protest by the National Commission Persons with Disability.
The commission said that the Year 3 student had not been able to attend school for over a month because the college failed to apply to the education authorities to assign the boy an LSA after the first one he had was indisposed. LSAs are paid by the State irrespective of whether a child goes to a government, Church or private school.
The commission also said the school was not accessible to wheelchair users.
It was astounded that the commission decided to use judicial means to tackle this very sensitive matter
In its reply, the college said it was “astounded” that the commission decided to use judicial means to tackle this “very sensitive matter” as opposed to discussing the issue.
It said the boy never had an LSA in the past but a personal assistant for his physical needs, as requested by the parents. When the assistant became indisposed, the school suggested another person but the mother refused. Meetings continued between the school and the mother and they agreed to apply for an LSA. The process started on May 5.
The boy attended the college for many years and the school insisted it never discriminated against him. On the contrary, it did all it could to help and this included structural alterations within legal limits. A room had been dedicated for use by his physiotherapist, for example, the college said. However, given that the college was a scheduled building, there were planning limitations.
The school added it had asked the commission for guidance on how to improve accessibility but never received it.
Lawyer Franco Vassallo signed the counter protest.