THE EQUALITY Tribunal has ordered the Department of Education to review a policy on special needs schools that requires students to complete their education there during their 18th year.
Equality officer Enda Murphy found the policy did not afford students in special needs schools the same time to complete their courses as their counterparts in mainstream schools. The case was taken by four families on behalf of their children, all of whom had been affected by the policy.
One 16-year-old with a learning disability had to complete his junior certificate in two years instead of three so that he would have finished his Leaving Cert while he was 18. His twin sister, who attended mainstream school, was permitted to complete her Leaving Cert in the year she was 19.
The case was also taken on behalf of two other boys aged 14 and 17 and an 18-year-old girl.
Answering the case, the department said the policy that pupils in special schools should transition to adult placement when they reach 18 was “based on sound, reasonable and rational considerations involving the interests of the pupil, the other pupils in the special schools . . . and resource implications”.
Ongoing education could be provided through the Department of Health and Children or the Health Service Executive if necessary or appropriate, it said.
Mr Murphy said all of the complainants were pursuing accredited courses of education and, given that students who are attending special needs schools normally commence at a later age than their counterparts, they would be unlikely to complete their courses in their 18th year. He ruled the policy was discriminatory under the Equal Status Acts and ordered the department to pay compensation totalling €6,000 to the complainants, though not to the youngest of the group who was just starting secondary education.
The policy had a “serious impact” on the education of the three older complainants, he said, and had resulted in them being “forced to complete their secondary education in a truncated period of time”.
He directed the department to review the policy to ensure students in special schools pursuing courses leading to accreditation are afforded the same time to complete as those in mainstream education.
The Equality Authority described the ruling as an important case for students with disabilities. Its chief executive Renee Dempsey said the policy that young students with a learning disability had to “skip a year” or have their educational experience truncated, in order to complete their second level cycle by the time they reached 18, added a further and unnecessary burden to students who were already overcoming learning challenges.
Other Equality Tribunal rulings released yesterday included three judgments against two car hire firms that failed to provide disability-accessible cars when requested. There were also two cases of women found to have been discriminatorily dismissed by their employers on grounds of gender. Both women had been pregnant when the disputes arose.
