Prague, Dec 4 (CTK) – The Czech Ministry of Education’s analysis of the first year of its inclusion policy shows that thousands of children with various disorders have already been in regular schools unassisted, daily Pravo writes on Monday.
Only after the inclusion policy was introduced in 2016, stirring debates of both parents and professionals, did these children obtain help, such as school assistants.
“The number of children with learning and behaviour developmental disorders has hiked, and so did the number of those with combined disabilities. These children have long been in regular schools,” outgoing Education Minister Stanislav Stech (Social Democrats, CSSD) told Pravo.
According to the analysis, there were 43,086 children with a diagnosed learning disorder, while in the previous school year, there were “only” 35,567 such children. As regards children with a behavioural disorder, their number has increased from 8,160 to 11,926, while the number of children with combined disorders has grown from 1,545 to 4,637. Overall, this means an increase by 14,377 children with various types of disorders, Pravo writes.
Before the inclusion policy was implemented, there was no notion of these children suffering from disorders. Consequently, schools were not able to receive supportive measures on account of them. If a child was hyperactive, they were labelled naughty and it was left up to the parents to pacify them, Pravo writes.
According to Stech, the stir around the inclusion policy paradoxically helped in the matter as parents and teachers became more involved and interested in the possibility of obtaining support, which resulted in more children reaching supportive measures in the past school year, Pravo writes.
Although the greatest concerns connected with the inclusion policy have been whether it would bring about a departure of children with severe disabilities from practical schools to regular ones, the analysis disproves this assumption, Pravo writes.
In 2017, 77 percent of all disabled or impaired pupils attended regular schools, and although their share in 2016 was 72 percent, it was 74 percent in 2015. Between the school years of 2015/16 and 2016/17, 1,583 pupils changed over from practical to regular schools and another 287 pupils did so until March 31 2017, Pravo writes.
Practical, previously special, schools are determined for slightly mentally disabled children.
Stech noted that inclusion was often criticised for being costly, but that more funds are made available for it now, while previously schools did not have sufficient finance for it, Pravo writes.
While previous expert estimates calculated the costs of inclusion at eight billion crowns, current expert estimates count with a maximum of 2.5 billion crowns, Pravo cites Stech.
As a result of the hysteria in the public domain, consulting school facilities were flooded with requests for new child assessments, which is why the ministry prolonged the deadline for them, Pravo cites Stech as saying.
Although he admits certain problems, he considers the inclusion successful, Pravo writes.
“Across advanced Europe, common education is a clear trend. Whenever I go to a conference though, our inclusion is highly appreciated. And I keep saying there are problems that go along with it, that people are refusing it,” Stech told Pravo.
