As a new school year approaches in France, a disability rights movement is warning that thousands of children yet again face exclusion because of a lack of teaching and facilities adapted to their needs.
According to Unapei, an association that represents people with intellectual disabilities and their families, the shortage of support means many children spend six hours a week or less in school.
The week before French schools reopen on 2 September, the organisation warned in a statement of serious disparities in access to education across France.
In the Eure department of Normandy, for instance, some 27 percent of children supported by Unapei's local branch receive six hours or less of schooling, while the figure is as high as 40 percent in Hérault in southern France, and 50 percent in the centre-west department of Sarthe.
"The new school year is about to start and there are many children, thousands of children, who have problems going to school or who aren't in school at all," Sonia Ahehehinnou, Unapei's vice president, told RFI.
The consequences can last a lifetime, she warned: "Going to school a little bit is not the same as going to school. If you don't fully enter into learning, if you're not in the right place, you can't develop and you can't build your future."
Inclusive ideals meet reality
The French system operates on the principle that pupils with disabilities should be integrated where possible into regular classes rather than educated separately – though, as Ahehehinnou explains, that's a challenge.
"On the one hand you have inclusion, which favours school attendance, socialising, access to equal education and participation in society," she said.
"However, some children have very specific needs, which require adaption and much more personalised support from different professionals and in different domains. And this expertise isn't always available within the school itself."
She points to a lack of training and resources for staff in mainstream schools, as well as a shortage of places in specialised institutions – "for which pupils might be waiting anywhere between one and 10 years".
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'True nightmare'
One of the main barriers, according to Unapei, is a lack of trained learning support assistants for students with special educational needs, known in France by the acronym AESH.
Among nearly a thousand testimonies gathered by the association, some parents recounted that they still didn't know by August whether their child would be assigned an assistant for the return to school in September.
Others described waiting years for a place in specialised facilities, or struggling to get more than a couple of hours a week in dedicated units within mainstream schools.
Having waited for a place in a designated facility for three years and with no specialised units available, the parents of one 12-year-old boy in Nantes reported that he was about to enter a regular class for his age group – despite having the reading and writing level of a six year old.
"He has learning difficulties and a class of 30 pupils where you switch teachers and classroom every period would be a true nightmare for a child who needs routine," they wrote on Unapei's online platform for sharing personal experiences, Ma Rentrée ("My return to school").
Reforms promised
Some 470,000 children with disabilities were in education in France at the start of the last school year, according to the Education Ministry, two-thirds of them with learning support – though it does not specify how many hours a week such pupils spend in school.
The government promised in May to launch several new initiatives during the coming school year, including multifunctional "school support centres" where children can access specialised teaching and equipment as well as speech therapy, physiotherapy, psychological support and other services.
The government also pledged to improve training for educators and assign AESH assistants to support children during lunch breaks.
However, with a caretaker administration in charge after France's inconclusive parliamentary elections, those reforms are now in doubt.
"We were already worried about various measures that had been in the pipeline for years, and now we're very concerned, and angry too," commented Unapei's Ahehehinnou.
"Under a caretaker government projects risk being put on standby, important projects that were supposed to be implemented from the start of the school year, and other projects will be cancelled. We don't know who to turn to, or how things are going to go for children who are already in difficulty or for those who are just starting school now."
Repeated failings
Activists have slammed France for years over its record on disability issues, ranging from education to transport to health care.
Last year the Council of Europe, the EU's human rights watchdog, condemned France for failing to respect fundamental disability rights set out in the European Social Charter, after Unapei and three other associations brought a joint complaint.
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Since then, there have been high-profile promises but no concrete improvements, the associations say.
Ahehehinnou hopes the Paris Paralympics might finally help focus more attention on the issue.
"Education isn't a competition, it's a challenge the state has to meet," she told RFI. "And they have to do it today, urgently."
