Categorie: Comunicate

Bucharest, July 15^th 2016. The European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) has notified the Superior Council of Magistracy regarding the delay of the judicial process in the criminal case of a girl with Down Syndrome from Bucharest, assaulted in a special school, that has lingered for 2 years and 5 months.

In February 2014, Clara’s mother filed a Criminal Complaint at the Prosecutor’s Office against the teachers from the Special School no. 11 in Bucharest, following the physical and verbal assault of the girl in the aforementioned school. The case file contains evidence of bad treatment applied to the underage girl, respectively a Forensic medical report for the physical injuries suffered by the girl, a post-traumatic psychological assessment, pictures of the injuries and other records.

In March 2014, Clara and her mother were called for hearings by a criminal case officer at the Police Station 25 in Bucharest, in the presence of a chosen defender. The hearing of the two aimed mainly to assert the child’s lack of speech by a case officer with no special training and with non-compliance to minimal standards of interaction with a child with disability.

After this hearing, for 2 years and 5 months, authorities have kept quiet in respect to the evolution or stage of the investigation. In a desperate attempt, in June 2016, the minor’s mother requested information from the Prosecutors’ Office District 5 regarding the stage of her daughter’s the criminal file.

In a terse response, the Prosecutors’ Office informed the requester in July 2016 that the file is “being dealt with” by the prosecutor starting with July 6^th 2016.

Equally, none of the notices addressed by CEDCD to the Ministry of National Education (MENCS) and Bucharest’s School Inspectorate (ISMB) have received any answers, with no measures being taken at the Special School no. 11.

In spite of the fact that the abuse suffered by the underaged child in the special school deprives her of her constitutional right to education, the competent and responsible authorities for the legal and administrative settling of the case have kept quiet for over 2 years. We believe that the delay of the judicial process in the case of a vulnerable minor is a particularly serious act, which perpetuates the state of abuse and isolation to which the minor is exposed and which proves once again the inability of the state to protect one of the most vulnerable social categories: children with disabilities.

CEDCD expresses its serious concern regarding the unduly lengthy duration, 2 years and 5 months, time in which the minor had no access to an effective legal remedy, in a particularly serious case which questions the physical and emotional integrity of a child, her constitutional right to education and dignity. The delay of the justice process in a case with vulnerable minors constitutes an infringement of fundamental legal principles regarding the required speed for such cases, and of the provisions of Article 99 (1) of Law no. 303/2004 regarding the statute of judges and prosecutors.

Furthermore, the absence of administrative measures following the notices submitted to MENCS and ISMB and the absence of information for CEDCD in respect to the adopted measures reveals the contempt of authorities towards legal provisions and rights of children with disabilities.

“I strongly believe that in the quagmire of bureaucracy and interests in Romania, children with disabilities are just some irrelevant numbers to authorities. Two years and a half since Clara was beaten and sedated in a special school are not just a delay, but a defiance of an innocent child, a silent victim of a careless system, which steps over legal principles, values and norms, while other thousands of children suffer in silence, isolated in social schools and institutions, because the long arm of the law never reaches them”, states Mădălina TURZA, ECRCD president and Clara’s mother.

Contact person:

Madalina TURZA

Email: madalina.turza@cedcd.ro

Mob:0737545955                                                                                                                         

Fax: 021/7952465

Dear parents of children with disabilities,

This is a call for solidarity and mobilization for children’s right to education in Romania.

I was concerned to learn that in special schools, parents are being pressured to fill out a tendentious questionnaire, which, under the pretence of gathering parents opinion on the educational services offered by schools, asks them whether they WISH TO ABOLISH SPECIAL SCHOOLS.

This question, as well as the context in which the questionnaire is distributed, are aimed at MANIPULATING parents and obtaining their VICED CONSENT for perpetuating the isolation of children with disabilities.

Following the actions undertaken by the European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD), which promotes the RIGHT TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION for all children, according to the obligations assumed by Romania through the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2010), representatives of the special education system have come together in a serious attempt of manipulating and threatening parents of children with disabilities in order to preserve their privileges and maintain an obsolete and unproductive system of special education.

False and alarming messages are being sent to parents of children with disabilities, enrolled in special schools, as follows:

• „ CEDCD wants to abolish special schools and children with disabilities will no longer have a place to learn”.
• „ CEDCD wants to transform special schools in NGOs, which will be managed by the center alone in order to take the parents’ money”.
• „Children with disabilities will be excluded, marginalized, discriminated and assaulted in mass schools”.

This is the context in which parents of children with disabilities are asked to answer the following question:

„DO YOU AGREE WITH THE ABOLITION OF SPECIAL SCHOOLS?”

The entire endeavor is all the more serious, as it is officially coordinated by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research (MNESR). Below is the message of the General Inspector for Special Education within MNESR regarding the online platform launched by CEDCD – www.educaţieincluziva.info

Translation:

“For some colleagues in the system who believe that others should defend their interests
Sleep tight, others will be on the look-out!

Of interest for you, Law 8/2016. I understand that many haven’t found out yet that this law passed, against the negative opinion of the ministry. Do you recognize the author?

LIANA MITRAN”

 

In respect to the situation described above, as president of the European Centre for the Rights of Children with Disabilities, I wish to make the following clarifications:

CEDCD is not pursuing the abolition of special schools, but rather the reform of the education system in the sense of creating inclusive schools for all children, according to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We are aware that it is a process achievable over a medium and long term, but the process must proceed based on a National Inclusion Program which establishes a staged transition from the segregated educational system to an inclusive one or to the mechanism of “least restrictive educational environment”. A first step which CEDCD has proposed to MNESR is to create a network of pilot inclusive schools, doubled by the appropriate training for teachers.

CEDCD is not pursuing, nor is there any legal possibility to transform special schools into NGOs. This statement is bizarre enough to not invest any additional explanation in taking it down.

Children with disabilities have the right to learn in mass schools. What we, as parents, can do, is to support mass schools with information, materials and, where needed, request these rights through legal means.

We take this opportunity to call on all parents of children with disabilities enrolled in special schools not to give in to the manipulative and intimidating actions of the special schools representatives. We know that you fear your answers may affect your child’s situation in school, but we must have the courage to fight for their future.

Awarding the questions excellent evaluation will NOT improve your child’s situation in school and will only perpetuate a system which transforms our children in socially supported adults. The school is NOT doing you a favor by accepting your child, allowing you to go to work. It is a RIGHT for which we must not humiliate ourselves and pay with the future of our children.

Inclusive education means schools adapted to the needs of all children, support teachers, adapted programs and books, rehabilitation services. This is my goal and the goal of CEDCD.

These days, while special schools question and intimidate parents, Lisbon hosts the biggest reunion of European organisations on inclusive education.

Below are key messages of the most important players in the field:

„Europe needs inclusive education more than ever. This is the message of the European Commission, supporting this reunion.” – Maureen Piggot , Inclusion Europe

„Special schools are bad because they isolate children from their peers, they prepare children for professions that are no longer needed, they encourage prejudices and abuses” – Senada Halicevic – president of the European Platform for Self Advocates

„Families of children with disabilities have the right to support and information through  the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in order to not be manipulated in always choosing special schools, or worse, supporting them”– Diane Richler – Inclusion International.

Bucharest, May 10th, 2016. CEDCD organized in the Workshop on „Inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream education – identified needs and practical solutions”.

25 teachers, both in mainstream schools, but also from special schools in Bucharest, Buzau, Dambovita, Galati, Giurgiu, Pitesti and Sibiu participated in the workshop organized by CEDCD in order to identify problems faced by teachers regarding inclusion of children with disabilities in mainstream education and solutions applied to create an inclusive education environment.

The debate was facilitated by Mr. Serban Iosifescu, president of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Education (ARACIP), who pointed out the importance of the permanent collaboration between teachers and parents to create an appropriate environment for the achievement maximum evolving potential of each student. Also, the participants were presented the first results of a joint research by ARACIP and CEDCD that teachers, parents and students were questioned about inclusion.

During the event, teachers were invited to form working groups to share their own methods of best practices in working with children with disabilities and their vision of what to do in the process of inclusion. The main points of discussion were: the lack of specialized programs for teachers, the need for creating centers of early intervention, adequate importance of counseling the parents that would allow a more efficient and productive communication with teachers. Ambiguous existent legislation that leaves room for interpretation, has been identified as one of the main factors hindering the construction of an inclusive education system.

The workshop was organized within the No Child Kept Apart – Steps towards Equity in Education project, funded by Open Society Foundations – Human Rights Initiative.

Bucharest, 27 April, 2016. The European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) expresses its deepest concern over the manner in which the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research (MNESR) understands to distort the general public’s and parents opinion on the issue of children with special educational needs and disabilities.

On the evening of April 26, 2016, MNESR published on the official website of the institution the Draft Government Decision regarding the county allocation of amounts approved by law for financing the rights of children/pupils/youth with special educational needs integrated in mass schooling, as well as the methodology of allocating these amounts to mass school units for the year 2016[1].

The explanatory memorandum attached to the Draft Government Decision informs us that:

“Through the educational policies it promotes and by allocating the necessary financial resources, the Romanian Government has set out to efficiently ensure equal access to education for all citizens of this country, regardless of their ethnic origin, gender, confession, residence area or socio-economic situation. Furthermore, considering the principle of social inclusion, the state supports ante-preschool and preschool children, pupils and students with social problems and needs, as well as those with special educational needs.”

Although MNESR announces that the Draft Government Decision is a measure of inclusion for children with SEND, it is, in fact, only recognizing and allocating the amounts of money for food allowances in school for children with SEND already established and regulated in 2011 by OMECS 5574 and 5036, but which were never ensured for the children.

Furthermore, the Draft Government Decision does not offer any solution for the 5 years in which children with SEND where prejudiced of this right, but rather establishes the obligation for parents to “demand, upon written request, the granting of such rights within 10 days from the date of entry into force of this Decision”.

It is worth pointing out that this daily allowance established by OMECS 5574/2011 for children with SEND enrolled in schooling should have been allocated from the budgets of County Councils, through the intermediary of schools, and amounts to approximately 13 – 15 lei per day.

We want to stress that this modest amount allocated for children with disabilities in educational establishments is NOT a measure of INCLUSION, as MNESR justifies in a tendentious manner, but rather a disputable form of social assistance.

Consequently, in the context in which approximately 20.000 children with disabilities are NOT enrolled in a form of educational establishment, they do not benefit of the most elementary support measures (adapted curriculum, support teacher, assistive technologies) and accessibility (see the case of Ştefan[2]), MNESR proposes the payment of a modest food allowance as an inclusion measure, a right already acquired and not honored in 2011.

Although CEDCD launched the administrative procedure for claiming the right to food allowance in over 260 cases in the last year, we do not consider this to be a measure of educational inclusion, but rather a form of assistance for these children.

“I believe that, in the context of the crisis of children with disabilities, segregated, discriminated and excluded from education, the distortion of truth by MNESR and presenting this derisory allowance, which is an already acquired right, as an inclusion method in education is undoubtedly a defiance of the over 70.000 children with disabilities and their parents. Children with disabilities need trained teachers, a reduction in the number of pupils in the classroom, an efficient adaptation of the curriculum, accessibility and support teachers”, states Mădălina TURZA, CEDCD president.

[1] http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/24263

[2] https://www.cedcd.ro/scrisoare-de-pozitie-cedcd-mental-disability-advocacy-centre/

Contact person:

Madalina TURZA

Email: madalina.turza@cedcd.ro

Mob: 0737545955                                                                                                                                

Fax: 021/7952465

TO: THE MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (MNESR)

To the attention of Mr. Minister Adrian CURAJ

THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR, FAMILY, SOCIAL PROTECTION AND ELDERLY

To the attention of Mr. Minister Dragoş PÎSLAR

BUCHAREST’S SCHOOL INSPECTORATE

To the attention of Mr. Inspector-General Ionel Florian LIXANDRU

THE NATIONAL AGENCY FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN PRE-UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

To the attention of Mr. President Şerban IOSIFESCU

THE GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF SOCIAL ASSISTANCE AND CHILD PROTECTION – DISTRICT 4

To the attention of Mr. Manager Costel ENE

BUCHAREST CITY HALL DISTRICT 4

To the attention of Mr. Mayor Daniel BĂLUŢĂ

MIHAI EMINESCU HIGH SCHOOL

To the attention of Mrs. Headmaster Tanţa Simona BELDIE

We address this letter to express our deepest concern over the breach of the right to inclusive education of the minor Ștefan-Moshe Stoian, aged 15, from Mihai Eminescu High School in Bucharest. Denying education constitutes a flagrant violation of national and international law.

Ştefan has physical impairments, which require a series of adaptations, including such from the perspective of mobility and classroom furniture. Given the difficulties in using his hands, he needs support for activities, such as opening his lunch box or help with taking notes during class. Ştefan needs an Individualized Education Program which takes account, among others, of his mandatory physical therapy sessions, which he must attend, and includes a plan of personalized services. Furthermore, adapting the teaching and examination methods to the speaking and writing characteristics of the pupil is absolutely mandatory.

We stress that the school has the legal obligation to provide these types of physical and informational adaptations, as well as appropriate solutions for accommodating Ștefan, a pupil of the aforementioned high school since September 2015. However, until the present date, the only measure the school has taken was to transform a formerly inaccessible toilet in one accessible to pupils with disabilities. No other measures were taken to facilitate access of the pupil to school or inside the classrooms. The absence of such mandatory adaptation measures, as well as the lack of a support toilet in school, have led his mother to carry him on the school stairs and pay for a personal assistant, a minimal measure that should have been ensured by the state.

In November 2015, Ștefan accepted to be temporarily home-schooled, while solutions for this situation were to be identified. However, even in this context, the school did not manage to send any teachers to his home and, even more severe, the pupil was declared absent from class. From the beginning of February 2016 until the present, the school has denied access of the minor’s personal assistant inside the building, without offering alternative solutions to support Ştefan.

As a consequence, Ștefan is now unable to access school classes. Moreover, the school’s teachers refuse to cooperate with Ștefan’s support teacher to elaborate an individualized education program. Some of them have openly expressed their refusal to teach for Ștefan, in written form, and demanded that he be moved to a special school.

Our organizations were informed that the school has ceased any type of communication with Ștefan, who, in spite of being officially enrolled to Mihai Eminescu High School, does not benefit of any form of education meant to ensure the progress appropriate for his age and abilities. We consider the school’s attitude a premeditated and abusive measure, meant to create the necessary context for Ștefan’s expulsion from school, under the pretence of a failure to meet the required standards. In fact, currently, the minor is being denied the right to education.

Ștefan was the victim of similar attitudes in his former school too, against which his mother has filed court actions. Ştefan’s case is the subject of a file at the European Court of Human Rights, while the Romanian Government has already been solicited to respond to these allegations of human rights infringement.

We stress that the school infringes Article 12 of Law no. 1/2011 regarding National Education and Article 13§1 of Law no. 448/2006 regarding the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Denying the right to inclusive education for Ştefan is a flagrant breach of the international provisions on the matter, which Romania is obliged to respect, including the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Both Conventions were ratified by Romania, both of them establishing the right to inclusive education for all children, including those with disabilities, regardless of their impairment or type of support they may need.

We, the signatory organizations – European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (ECRCD) and Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) ask the recipients of this letter to take urgent measures, so Ştefan can benefit of his right to inclusive education.

In this respect, we demand, among other, to rapidly adopt the following measures:

1. Instruct the management of Mihai Eminescu High School regarding the following:
2. facilitate access for Ştefan to the school unit through adaptation measures of the physical environment;
3. provide the pupil with the necessary support and reasonable adaptation measures;
4. initiate, as a matter of urgency, the elaboration of an individualized education plan for Ştefan with the purpose of offering a quality curriculum adapted to his needs and offering equality with all other pupils, as well as an individualized services plan;
5. consult the pupil for elaborating a recovery plan for the period in which he did not benefit of inclusive education, by organizing supplementary teaching courses.
6. Verify compliance with the quality standards according to the legal provisions in force in respect to quality assurance in secondary education.
7. Adopt the necessary measures to bring individuals responsible of direct discrimination acts against Ștefan in front of the relevant professional and regulatory bodies.

Furthermore, in this context, we are launching the invitation to attend or delegate a representative of your institution at the Press Conference organized by ECRCD and MDAC, on Monday, April 25^th, 2016, starting with 10.00, regarding the case of Ștefan Stoian and other similar cases and invite you to express your opinion on the matter. The event will take place at Hotel Ramada Majestic on Calea Victoriei No. 38-40, Sect. 1.

Thank you,

Signatory organizations:

European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (ECRCD) Madalina TURZA ECRCD President   Calea 13 Septembrie, no. 128, Bl. P35, Sc. 1, Ap. 3, District 5, Bucharest, Romania madalina.turza@cedcd.ro, 0737545955

Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC)   Oliver LEWIS Executive Director     Hercegprimas u. 11, 1051, Budapesta, Ungaria Contact person: Steven Allen (steven@mdac.org;  003614132730)

Dear parents,

Know the rights of your child! Discrimination is a common phenomenon, whose victims are children with disabilities, mostly in school environment. It is often a silenced or unknown fact.

Attention! Besides the obvious abuse of ignoring the right to the child’s education by verbally denying him access to class, collecting signatures for exclusion or other intimidation tactics, DISCRIMINATION IS ALSO:

– The refusal to adapt the school curriculum to the child’s educational needs
– The refusal to provide teaching means and techniques necessary for the child’s educational needs
– The refusal to provide a support teacher
– The refusal to accept the support teacher in class
– The refusal to evaluate the child strictly according to his educational needs
– The refusal to offer psycho-pedagogical assistance
– The lack of adjustment of tests/ exams/ national examinations according to the pupil’s needs.

 

Bucharest, 19^th April 2016. Today, the European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) notified the National Council for Combating Discrimination in the case of a 15 year old girl, victim of humiliating treatments at the Secondary School Ghiță Mocanu in Onești, Bacău County.

Denisa was diagnosed with hypoacusis and a mild form of intellectual disability. The girl has an accentuated disability degree and an educational orientation certificate issued by CJRAE Bacău for education in mass schools, grades VI-VIII, having the right to an adapted curriculum and a support teacher.

Through the mighty efforts of her parents, Denisa graduated from the grades 1-4 in a mass school, but since the 5^th grade, the class teacher has put pressure on her parents to withdraw the child from school. Beyond the constant acts of marginalization, the threat to repeat the year and the categorical refusal to adapt her school curriculum according to the current legal provisions, the class teacher systematically attempted to bring the parents together in order to demand Denisa’s exclusion from school.

Although the school management attempted to mitigate the conflict, the class teacher, along with the mother of a pupil from Denisa’s class, collected signatures to exclude the girl from school. Moreover, the class teacher believes that Denisa is “a child that should stay at home and play with dolls”, and a mother of a pupil brought by CEDCD in front of the National Council for Combating Discrimination believes that Denisa is a hindrance in the pupil’s study process for the national examination at the end of the 8^th grade. One of her statements was: “If you have a basket with good apples and you add a rotten one, won’t it spoil the others?”

Currently, Denisa continues to go to class at Ghiță Mocanu School, in Onești, and the discriminatory and humiliating attitude of her class teacher and the aforementioned mother continues. In spite of the good relationships in the past, Denisa is now isolated from her classmates, sitting alone in the last desk, as a result of the conflict between her family and her class teacher, which made them believe that there is a fundamental difference between them, based on her disability.

“Unfortunately, the dramatic case of Denisa is very familiar to us, but two things are of fundamental concern: on the one hand, the fact that in spite of legal provisions and numerous legal proceedings initiated by our organization, the Ministry of Education stubbornly refuses to take measures of discrimination prevention and inclusion for children with disabilities. On the other hand, we are particularly concerned over the aggressiveness of the pupils’ parents, who easily choose to discriminate and incite to discrimination against children with disabilities. Therefore, our organization has decided that such attitudes can no longer be tolerated and parents who treat children in such a manner are brought in front of competent courts, along with teachers”, states Mădălina TURZA, CEDCD president.

Contact person:

Madalina TURZA

Email: madalina.turza@cedcd.ro

Mob: 0737545955                                                                                                                              

Fax: 021/7952465

 

Wednesday, 7^th April 2016, the United States Embassy in Bucharest awarded Mrs. Mădălina TURZA, president of the European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) a prestigious acknowledgement for her efforts of protecting and promoting the rights of children with disabilities during the International Women of Courage Award – 2016 ceremony.

The awards is a result of her activity in the last 5 years, through which she introduced on the public agenda the issue of the right to inclusive and quality education for children with disabilities in Romania, through continuous efforts of representing children with disabilities in court, through advocacy at a national level, through extensive efforts of coagulating and empowering parents of children with disability at national level for the rights of their children, as well as through her involvement in public policies and legislative proposals.

“The award Woman of Courage, which I was honored to receive from H.E. Mr. Ambassador Hans Klemm is not just an acknowledgement of personal merits, but foremost a confirmation and an endorsement of the values in which I and my organization strongly believe – inclusion and the right to INCLUSIVE EDUCATION of children with disabilities in Romania. Far too many times, our children’s right to education was flagrantly violated, depriving tens of thousands of Romanian children of a chance to an independent life. It is a powerful cry through which our authorities should understand that 30, 000 children isolated in special schools and almost 20,000 children with disabilities who do not attend school are not just numbers, but lives condemned to helplessness and silence.

I want to thank the United States Embassy in Bucharest for this special acknowledgement and I dedicate this award to every parent who has the strength and courage to say NO to the abuses of his/her child, as well as to the CEDCD team, which has chosen a tough road for the superior interest of children with disabilities”, states Mădălina Turza, CEDCD president.

CEDCD congratulates the 6 awarded women, who have proven courage, perseverance and faith in the great values of humanity.

Bucharest, 23^rd March 2016. The European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) has notified the National Council for Combating Discrimination in the case of an 8 year old girl from Galaţi County, diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder (Asperger Syndrome), excluded from Secondary School no. 10, Petre Ţuţea in Galaţi.

In 2014, based on her educational orientation certificate issued by CJRAE Galaţi, young Adelina was enrolled to the zero grade of Secondary School no.10 in Galaţi, along with her sister. During the entire year, the two sisters have been isolated and treated differently by the teacher, who has continuously pressured the parents to withdraw Adelina from school.

In spite of the difficulties, the parents tried to keep their children together, at the same school, including in the first grade. Starting with the school year 2015, things have become more severe, as Adelina’s teacher forbade her to come to school. Moreover, the teacher has taken all steps in order for Adelina’s parents to withdraw her from school. We enumerate by way of example: refusing to ensure her a place in a desk, refusing to talk to the girl’s personal assistant and her parents, denying her an adapted curriculum, offending and isolating both Adelina and her sister.

In this context, her parents addressed the school management which support the teacher’s behavior, explicitly denying Adelina’s integration in school.

All these abusive treatments have had severe repercussions for the two sisters, both in terms of emotions and behavior, with Adelina’s sister being equally discriminated and isolated by association with her sister.

Pressured by the teacher and the school management, the parents were obliged to request the children’s transfer in a school unit outside their living area. This fact is rendering the children’s access to education particularly difficult and puts an additional burden on the parents, who must transport them daily by cab to school.

“We are extremely concerned over the situation of the two girls in Galaţi, particularly as these cases are not an exception, but a phenomenon at the level of the entire Romanian educational system. In spite of CEDCD efforts and of numerous decisions of the National Council for Combating Discrimination, which sanctions discrimination in case of children with disabilities, the Ministry of Education still refuses to adopt measures of prevention and sanctioning of these acts. We will continue to fight for the rights of these children and will make use of all legal means, as well as international fora, for the Ministry of Education to assume the inclusion of children with disabilities, which is an obligation and by no means an option”, stated Mădălina TURZA, president of CEDCD.

 

Contact person:

Madalina TURZA

Email: madalina.turza@cedcd.ro

Mob: 0737545955                                                                                                                                

Bucharest, 18^th March 2016. Today, 18^th March, the European Center for the Rights of Children with Disabilities (CEDCD) organized the Seminary on “The Right to Education of Children with Disabilities in Romania from the Perspective of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.

12 judges from Bucharest, Ilfov and Argeş attended the debated organized by CEDCD with the purpose of facilitating the understanding of the right to education of children with disabilities from the perspective of international and national legislation on the matter. Other participants, guests of CEDCD, representatives of the National Council for Combating Discrimination, the Center for Legal Resources, the Advocacy and Human Rights Center have brought on the table key issues of the right to education, both from a perspective of non-discrimination and segregation of children with disabilities and Roma children, as well as from the perspective of creating a minimally restrictive environment in education.

Equally, CEDCD representatives have exposed a new vision on understanding the right to education from the perspective of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, tackling the concept of inclusive education, notions of formal and substantial access to education, as well as the applicable national legislation which can be put to use in cases regarding the right to education of children with disabilities.

Furthermore, CEDCD representatives have discussed two strategic cases pending in courts and represented by CEDCD with the aim of emphasizing particularities and challenges of cases relating to the infringement of the right to education of children with disabilities, both in the formal (exclusion from school) and substantial (failure to adapt the physical and informational environment to the pupil’s needs) understanding.

The seminary was organized as part of the Project OPEN SPECIAL SCHOOLS – Steps towards equity in education, financed by Open Society Foundations – Human Rights Initiative.