At each school year, the question comes back tirelessly on the table: how many young people with disabilities are still excluded from school benches in France? Although the government has stated that it wants to make this subject one of its priorities, educating a disabled child is always a challenge for parents.
This is due to the crying lack of auxiliaries of school life (AVS), essential for the support of pupils, and the always insufficient places in specialized units. Result: this year, they would be "more than 8,000" to not be able to return to school, according to the Citizen Collective Disability, which adds that this number "has doubled this year".
The anger among parents is not weakening: in Strasbourg, two mothers perched on the top of a scaffolding on the morning of Wednesday, September 18 to denounce their fear of "schooling at a discount" for their children. Wanting to move the lines, Unapei, the federation of associations for the defense of the interests of the mentally handicapped invited, from August 9, the parents to make known their difficulties of inscription and organization, on the site marentree .org.
[#jaipasecole] Today is back to school ...
... but not for thousands of children with disabilities who will not have a suitable schooling solution.
Their testimonials 👉🏽 https://t.co/sE8KhhCqMp pic.twitter.com/RNKRm3PVSn
Romane, 5 years old , at school 6 hours a week
Result: the platform has so far nearly 500 testimonys describing for the most part, chaotic school courses. "We wanted to show the reality of the problems faced by these families so that the government adjusts the existing devices," said Sonia Ahehehinnou, spokesman for Unapei, contacted by France 24.
Thus, Timéo, 8 years old, follows an unsuitable schooling in CM1, "without auxiliary of school life, nor educational material". Romane, 5, goes to school "six hours a week, waiting for a place in a medical-educational institute (IME)". For her part, Mewen, 16, "without any schooling solution", has been on a waiting list for one year in order to integrate an IME.
Parents who stop working
Painful situations that often force parents to adapt their schedule. According to the latest study of the Ministry of National Education, 40% of mothers and 6% of fathers have reduced their activity or stopped working to support their disabled child.
For its part, the government is reassuring. Since the 2005 law, which lays down the principle of the right to schooling for any young person with a disability, considerable efforts have been made to improve the integration of these students. In 2004, there were 37,000 children with disabilities in middle and high schools. A figure that tripled in 2017, with the reception of 140,000 young people in these institutions, according to figures from the Ministry of Education.
"What are the kids doing the rest of the time ?"
To make the school "ever more inclusive", in the words of the Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the government has created 4,500 new support positions for the 2019 school year. For its part, the secretary State for People with Disabilities, Sophie Cluzel, assures Loopsider that "about 96% of students have had their accompanying for the 2019 school year". And to add that "86% of these children are enrolled full time". An attractive figure on paper, but hiding a more complex reality, shades Unapei.
"The question is: what do we put behind this figure?" It is rarely a full-time effective. "In fact, many go to school only a few hours a week, with their help But when he is not there, the student is rarely accepted alone in class, what does he do the rest of the time? ", The spokesperson wonders.
"Schooling does not start from the need of the child"
To this is added the case of young people who are waiting for their enrollment in a structure more adapted to their disability. "Some do not have adequate facilities and therefore can not learn in the best conditions." School attendance unfortunately does not share the need of the child, "said Sonia Ahehehinnou.
If the young woman recognizes undeniable progress since 2005, she believes that they must not hide the persistent difficulties. "How can we explain that parents today come to climb on a scaffolding to listen to their difficulties? Progress will only be real when the schooling of these children will no longer be a hot topic," concludes -she.