Schools ‘cannot handle’ children with disability, parents say
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...