Tarcísio chooses hub schools for students with disabilities – 12/15/2023 – Education

The Tarcísio de Freitas (Republican) government will select schools from the São Paulo state network to be service centers for special education starting next year. The proposal foresees that these units will concentrate “skills and infrastructure” to serve students with disabilities.

Seduc (State Department of Education), led by Renato Feder, presented the “Polo Schools” project this week to directors. Of the more than 5,500 state schools in São Paulo, between 50 and 75 (around 1% of the network) will be selected to concentrate specialized services.

Experts point out that the project could increase the segregation of students with disabilities and state that the policy should seek to adequately structure all schools in the network, and not a minority.

The project plans to expand the model to around 1,000 schools (less than 20% of the network) over the next seven years. According to data from the latest School Census, the São Paulo state network has more than 88 thousand students enrolled in special education.

Despite having already presented the project and started the process of selecting schools, the secretariat says that the model is still under study. “By respecting inclusion, if the project moves forward, this type of school will be available to all students, not just those with disabilities,” she told Sheetin note.

According to the ministry, the selected schools will continue to receive all types of students, and the other units in the network also remain responsible for enrolling students with disabilities.

In the presentation made to principals, the secretariat explains that schools with the highest number (or proportion) of students with disabilities will be selected. Criteria such as greater interest on the part of the director, social vulnerability, potential for improving infrastructure and the number of cases of judicialization will also be observed — that is, when parents turn to the courts to obtain specialized care for their children.

The ministry argues that the selected units will receive the structure to offer “reference” special education. In them, he says, an “integrated model of care” will be developed, with specialized professionals, accessible facilities, resource rooms and training for educators.

Also according to the secretariat’s presentation, the idea of ​​creating “polo schools” aims to “concentrate skills and infrastructure of schools and network of partners for excellent, scalable and economically viable service”.

For experts interviewed by the report, the proposal to concentrate resources in some units goes against the provisions of the National Special Education Policy and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“Resources to ensure inclusion and quality education must be available in all schools. The idea of ​​concentrating specialized professionals and infrastructure for a small group of units favors segregation. At the same time that it creates a minority of schools with adequate structure, it leaves thousands of others without the same resources”, says Roseli Olher, education supervisor at Instituto Jô Clemente.

For her, the proposal to structure just one group of schools could result in other units having less commitment to promoting quality special education and, even, sending students to these centers.

“Schools that will not receive these resources, which should be the minimum guaranteed to all, may end up sending students to these centers, especially those who have a level of disability. This way, you concentrate those with disabilities in a few places. This is not inclusion”, he says.

Mariana Rosa, specialist in inclusive education and founder of Instituto Cáue, states that the concentration of resources can lead to the stigmatization of centers.

“If these schools will have better structures, they will attract more students with disabilities. Therefore, these units will not have the diversity that is important for everyone’s development”, he says. “Children and young people need to live with different people, which is why all schools need to have an adequate structure to accommodate all types of needs. By concentrating resources, students are also segregated”, adds Rosa.

In a note, the secretariat states that the selected schools must become a “reference center” and that, if the model is approved, it can be applied to other units. “For the other units in the network, the department will continue to promote inclusive education, aimed at all the diversity that exists in the school context”, he says.

According to the ministry, schools now have a resource room, specialized educational services, school support professionals, school transport and a sign language interpreter.