Families of children with disabilities or neurodivergent people complain that the law is not being complied with, given that the schools do not have specialized staff, and are going to file a complaint against the State.
The Movement for Effective Inclusion (MIE) is preparing a complaint against the Portuguese State at the European Court of Human Rights, denouncing serious failures in the implementation of inclusive education.
The complaint is based on reports from parents and family members who point to the exclusion of children and young people with disabilities, neurodivergence and deafness in school activities, lack of adequate monitoring and episodes of neglect and psychological violence.
Filipa Nobre Pinheiro, MIE spokesperson, revealed that there are cases reported to the authorities that fell into “a void”while others do not move forward for fear of reprisals.
Among the situations reported, the following stand out: canceled study visits for allegedly misbehaving children and the lack of supervision of students with special needs, often attributed to a lack of human resources.
Lourenço Santos, founder of the movement, highlights that discrimination is evident. Cases of “forced student transfers” and the increasing use of police in schools to deal with situations of dysregulation among autistic students expose the incapacity of the system.
In response, the Ministry of Education did not provide clarification on the measures taken, while the General Inspectorate of Education and Science did not release information on complaints and inspections.
In force since 2018, the Inclusive Education decree-law faces challenges in its implementation due to the lack of specialized teacherstherapists, operational assistants and appropriate training. Lourenço Santos states that, without investment, compliance with legislation is unfeasible. The complaint to the European Court should be formalized later this year, after legal validation of testimonies.
Maria gives as an example the decision of a school in Lisbon to call the police during the dysregulation of his grandson, a 14-year-old autistic boy, without first trying alternatives provided for in the special educational plan.
During the episode, the boy attacked a teacher special education, who filed a complaint. The parents are now the target of action in the Juvenile Court.
In response to JN, the director of the Laranjeiras school group, Amílcar Albuquerque Santos, says that “there were improvement proceduresparticularly regarding the issue of addressing disruptive outbursts among students” and that the complaint to the police only concerns the teacher, “in the exercise of her rights as a citizen”.
The MIE will be heard in Parliament until the end of January, after its petition has gathered more than 9000 signatures.
