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In 54.7pct of the schools attended by students with special educational needs (SEN), the school counselors come only weekly/occasionally, while only 44.3pct of the schools where such students go benefit from the services of a permanent school counselor, according to a survey carried out by the Salvati Copiii Organization, told Agerpres.
According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday, the survey was conducted between November 1-14, 2022, among 192 respondents, school principals and teachers.
As many as 1,125 children with SEN were identified, given that approximately 50,000 students study in these schools; of these, 625 have a medical diagnosis, and of those diagnosed 375 have a companion recommendation. However, less than half, only 125, benefit from a companion (shadow, accompanying parent, itinerant teacher, support teacher, etc.).
Among the schools included in the survey, 66.7pct are located in the rural areas, and 33.3pct are located in the urban areas.
The research also shows that, in terms of resources for the inclusion of children with SEN: 169 (88pct) of the schools have a school counselor; 70 (36.5pct) of the schools benefit from a support teacher; 49 (25.5pct) of the schools benefit from an itinerant teacher; 100 schools (52.1pct) benefit from a speech therapist.
Regarding the level of training of school teachers for activities that require the necessary skills to work with children with SEN, 43.2pct of the respondents believe that they have minimal skills and only 11.5pct of the respondents say that they are really trained for this.
Regarding the adjustment of the physical space for people with disabilities: 135 (70.3pct) schools have access ramps; one school (0.5pct) has a wheelchair lift; 10 (5.2pct) of the schools have toilets adjusted for people with disabilities; 12 (6.3pct), and in 52 (27.1pct) the physical space was not adjusted in any way.
In Romania, students with special educational needs and/or with disabilities are going to special educational units, while some of them continue to study in the usual public schools. The SEN Students can be found at all levels of education and represent 1.8pct of the school population included in the public education system (53.2 thousand students). The distribution by category is as follows: 43,063 students with SEN; 9,268 students with a disability certificate; 46 students are being educated in the hospital, and 828 are home-schooled students.
In this context, in order to support from an educational and social point of view students with special educational needs and children from socio-economically disadvantaged families, Salvatii Copiii have been running, starting with 2022, seven local programmes, in the counties of Dambovita, Dolj, Ilfov, Giurgiu, Vaslui and the municipality of Bucharest, through the "A School for Each" project.
In 2022-2023, more than 1,500 people will benefit from direct intervention: children and relatives, and 170 teachers will be trained as part of this project.
The project benefits from a grant worth 1,115,000 euros offered by Norway through the Norwegian Grants within the Local Development Programme (www.eeagrants.ro and www.frds.ro).
