We must do better. The Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, calls on the school to better adapt to the needs of students with disabilities, in a report which will be published on Monday August 29 and which AFP was able to consult. She points out several major issues such as the precariousness and lack of training of student caregivers, as well as the dropout of children with disabilities for lack of appropriate reception.
With the impetus given in recent years to inclusive schooling, 400,000 children with disabilities are enrolled in mainstream education in 2021, up 19% over five years, according to this report. To help them, the accompanying persons of students with disabilities (AESH) recruited by the National Education have seen their number increase by 35% over 5 years (they were 125,000 in 2021). In conclusion of the report, the Defender of Rights nevertheless underlines a persistent discrepancy “between increasing human and financial resources” and “the growing number of children whose needs are very largely not or poorly covered”.
“What struck us in the complaints received in recent months and which are on the increase, are the attributions of AESH which are not applied for lack of financial and human means”notes the Defender of Rights in an interview with AFP. “However, the consequences are dramatic for the child: non-schooling, dropping out, or very few hours of lessons”deplores Claire Hédon, who is demanding “finer statistics on the time of effective schooling” of these students with special needs.
The Defender also recommends “to include in the budgets of each school year a provisional envelope for AESH requests during the year”, many of which are refused by schools for lack of budget. It also recommends that the Departmental Houses for the Disabled (MDPH), which notify the need for an AESH, base themselves exclusively on the needs of the children and not on the lack of means of the academy.
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The AESH, in their vast majority of women, “need to be trained in the different forms of disability because we do not take care of an autistic child and a dys pupil in the same way”, notes Claire Hédon. The status of AESH, paid by National Education, has been improved in recent years, but they still have to deal with part-time work (24 hours a week), and salaries around 800 euros.