Parents of children with disability are concerned the education sector is not equipped to handle them, with the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability reporting a “sharp increase” in education-related complaints
The amount of complaints lodged by the end of last week was almost half the total for the whole of 2018, a Commission spokesperson told Times of Malta.
The commission’s investigations unit had received about 82 education-related complaints last year, the spokeswoman said, adding that 33 new cases were now being investigated.
“The increase might be due to people with a disability becoming more aware of their rights and also because of the commission’s role as a regulator for the rights of people with a disability,” the spokeswoman noted.
Parents who spoke to the Times of Malta on condition of anonymity said mainstream schools were ill-equipped to handle children with disability.
It felt as though such children did not have a voice, one parent said. Certain teachers were not trained to work with such cases, putting them at the back of the class and virtually segregating them, the parent added.
The commission spokeswoman said the cases brought to their attention varied considerably.
“The majority of complaints are by parents who feel that not enough support is being given to their child,” she pointed out.
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Educators, on the other hand, claimed they were not being given the necessary backing and resources to provide the required sort of support, she added.
“The commission does not shy away from taking matters further should the need arise and, if necessary, it will also pursue the matter before the courts,” the spokeswoman said.
The Education Ministry insisted when approached about the matter that National School Support Services and the Directorate for Educational Services were focusing on outreach in schools.
A ministry spokeswoman said there were learning support educators who were trained to assist students with disability in almost every school. Should issues on supporting these students arise, the head of the Department for Inclusion could be contacted and if more specialised support was re-quired, teachers were also able to reach out to education officers, she said.