The article, supposed to give more powers to National Education to define the modalities of support for children with disabilities, was considered a “budgetary rider”.
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A turnaround for inclusive schools. The Constitutional Council censored an article of the finance law for 2024 which aimed to reform the support of children with disabilities at school, Thursday December 28.
Article 233 of the text was considered a “budgetary rider” – a provision which has no place in a finance law. This article provided for the creation of Education Support Centers (PAS), responsible for “define” THE “measures” necessary for “promote the education of students with special educational needs”. Currently it is the Departmental Houses for Disabled People (MDPH) which are responsible for recognizing the disability and defining the means that National Education must put in place for these children.
The Council’s decision “does not call into question the commitment made by the President of the Republic during the national disability conference” in April, estimates the Ministry of Persons with Disabilities. “Work will resume with all the actors” And “the main part of the system can be taken by decree”notes the ministry, which adds that “if we have to go through the law, we can consider it”.
The ministry still wishes “launch the prefiguration of this system in three to four departments from the start of the 2024 school year and generalize it by 2026”, to ultimately reach 3,000 specialized “disability” teachers and 6,000 medico-social professionals (speech therapists, specialized educators, psychomotor therapists, etc.) in these PASs. Since 2005, the number of children with disabilities in school, in mainstream and specialized settings, has more than doubled to reach 475,000 students, but thousands of children with disabilities do not have access to schooling. adapted.
