Parents of special-needs children struggled for decades to improve their children’s education by ensuring they had a place in regular classrooms, but it appears that true inclusion is still a long way off.
As the Times Colonist’s Lindsay Kines reported on Sunday, parents say their youngsters are being denied the full public education that is their legal right.
Some children are being sent home, others see their hours of instruction limited and still others don’t get the help they need when they are in class. Groups that advocate for parents and their children say they are inundated with calls for help.
In 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada said the B.C. School Act makes it clear that all students have the right to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to contribute to society.
But as so often happens, there’s a disconnect between the court’s ruling and the resources that school boards have to turn it into reality for children.
The Supreme Court’s decision that restored class-size and composition rules made it even harder because there are aren’t enough teachers to go around, compounding the effects of years of cuts to specialist teachers and education assistants.
The challenges for school boards are real and clear. Resources are limited, and teachers have an obligation to all the children in their classes. Without sufficient assistance and training, they can’t manage those who might have significant behavioural or educational issues.
The province needs a co-ordinated approach. Leaving it to individual school districts won’t fix a provincewide problem.
