When a child with a disability needs a vacancy in the private education sector, the difficulties for families are manifold.
Boys with a certain level of neurodivergence or a disability certificate (CUD), which must be integrated into general schools They are victims of a system that challenges them with authentic odysseys. The registration form asks, among other things, participation in therapy, the need for therapeutic support or an integrative teacher, and an affirmative answer often automatically triggers a negative institutional reaction from the private sector. Although the law protects job applications from individuals who have a diagnosis that impacts school learning, Taking action to force school attendance may cause inconvenience to the student in the future.which is why they are usually discarded.
Apparently this law didn’t seem to be enough Disability Observatory of the Judiciary Buenos Aires receives thousands of complaints from parents whose applications are rejected by institutions that open their doors to other children. It was both exhausting and frustrating to search between 20 and 40 schools to find one that would accommodate children with special needs. “We don’t do inclusion”, “we don’t have any vacancies”, “your child is not for this school” are some of the arguments.
Graciela Ocana and a group of deputies from Buenos Aires proposed opening one public and compulsory registration of vacancies in private schools from the scope of Buenos Aires City Department of Education. At the last meeting of the year Legislature Buenos Aires, after working meetings with the participation of families and institutions, this reform Registration right. Data on available positions by grade level and year, both in the school year and the next They must be updated in real time and published on school websites..
A job directory exclusively for people with disabilities is not proposed; There is also no intention to set quotas. This is intentional A school cannot reject a vacancy under pretexts and arbitrary reasons so that they can also kindly invite the boy to change schools in the following years once he has already started as a student, which has not yet been reported. From a regulatory perspective, the law prohibits schools from refusing registration or re-registration without a valid and justified reason and requires them to respond within 20 days of receiving the request. Parents can submit their complaint to the ministry, which finally can warn and even fine the institution.
While the stories of many families in work meetings discussed the enormous difficulties and torturous pilgrimages in search of vacancies, many schools resisted. The Association of Private Educational Institutes of Argentina (Aiepa) argued that it cannot be proven that there are minors excluded from the education system. “The proposed register represents government over-regulation with no practical meaning. It will not serve to improve inclusion or solve problems that generally do not exist,” Aiepa said in a statement.
The schools exercise their right to accept students and demand training. They doubt that the law does not address the impact that the presence of accompanying persons has on a teacher and on the rest of the class, as it changes coexistence and educational routines.
Sources of the Association of Special Schools They explained that there were half-truths and manipulations in the fundamentals of the law. There are also complaints that many regulations are not being followed, making one wonder whether new rules and sanctions could be the solution.
International and national human rights organizations have declared this Refusal to enroll due to a disability constitutes an act of discrimination This violates the right to inclusive education enshrined in Article 24 of the law Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilitiesa treaty that has a constitutional hierarchy in our country.
The new register will not solve all problems, but it could limit them. It is also necessary to establish effective control and complaint mechanisms with schools. The situations discussed so far show that the pedagogical perspective in this area is also backwards and tied to outdated concepts that, fortunately, the world is in the process of changing. Something like that apartheid The educational system that has prevailed for decades has made segregation something self-evident. The lessons should continue to have a homogenizing patina more typical of the last century than new trends. Fortunately, today we promote inclusion in heterogeneous contexts where everyone has equal opportunities. The richness of this new approach and the rules that accompany it lead us to consider these issues without further delay and, in the meantime, to see how we can right the sails during the transition period.