KNPD: 'All children should be included in mainstream education'

The National Commission for People with a Disability (KNPD) has insisted that all children, even those with severe impairments, should be included in mainstream classrooms. 

“While it is not the easiest route, we believe that the inclusion of all children with diverse impairments is a goal that must be achieved,” a KNPD spokesperson told MaltaToday.

“Every child must be given the opportunity to learn the same curriculum to the best of their ability to ensure that these children are fully included and not just physically integrated into the same classroom as their non-disabled peers.”  

The commission’s response follows remarks by Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello that not all children could be realistically expected to integrate into mainstream classes. 

“Some severely autistic children cannot concentrate for more than two minutes in a classroom,” Bonello said on Reporter on Monday, insisting that parents shouldn’t get to overrule teachers on decisions concerning the way their children are taught at schools.

“Parents undoubtedly have an important role to play in educating their children, but teachers are education professionals,” he said. “If a surgeon tells you that you need a kidney operation, you wouldn’t question his opinion but go along with his professional advice. The same should hold true for teachers.”

But the KNPD claim that children with learning difficulties can learn the subjects taught at school, only through a different style of teaching than the mainstream. 

Their pro-flexibility argument is backed in principle by both Education Minister Evarist Bartolo and shadow education minister Therese Comodini Cachia. 

They also insist that the inclusion problem lies more heavily within the way children who may require a Learning Support Assistant are assessed. 

“Many people are given a one-to-one LSA when they do not need one, while other children who do require a LSA’s services are not awarded one,” a spokesperson for KNPD said. 

This rise in ‘statemented’ children [those certified as requiring an LSA], the commission claimed, could be due to more and more parents seeking medical advice as to why their children are not academically performing at the same high level as their peers. 

“It could be the case that the child simply finds the work harder to comprehend than their peers, a situation which may reverse itself given more time. The fact that all children, whether they have an impairment or not, learn at different rates is something that must be considered more carefully when assessing whether a child needs an LSA to assist them in the educational setting,” the spokesperson added.