Czech EdMin presents Council of Europe its measures for fewer Roma in special ed

As many as 28 % of the pupils attending the "practical schools" (formerly the "special schools") in the Czech Republic are of Romani origin. Those are the results of an investigation by the Czech School Inspectorate, which counted the number of Romani schoolchildren attending schools designed for children with light mental retardation this past September. 

Some mainstream primary schools are now doing their best to halt this trend and are seeking a way out of it by educating all children together. The Czech School Inspectorate conducted its research in response to a judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in the matter of D.H. and Others versus The Czech Republic, according to which 18 Romani children had been unjustifiably transferred to a "special school." 

First Deputy Education Minister Jindřich Fryč presented the results to date of the Action Plan for executing the D.H. judgment at a meeting this week of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The Czech Republic has committed through this Action Plan to support a new system for diagnosing the pupils to be assigned into remedial education programs for pupils with light mental disability (lehke mentální postižení – LMP), to draft amendments to key legal regulations, and to lead a broader discussion on the question of inclusive education. 

The recent investigation at the "practical schools" took place as part of the Action Plan and its presentation abroad. It involved 483 schools attended by five or more pupils with a diagnosis of light mental disability. 

Information about the number of Romani pupils in these adjusted education programs was acquired on the basis of qualified estimates from school directors working with head teachers. Out of the almost 15 000 children with LMP identified in those schools, 4 000 of them were members of the Romani minority.

The Education Ministry interprets this research as confirming a declining trend in the number of pupils of Romani ethnicity assigned to remedial education programs. The proportion of Romani children enrolled in the "practical schools" has not changed much since monitoring began. 

"It is not possible for such a high percentage of children, from any ethnic group, to be lightly mentally disabled to such a great extent," says Klára Laurenčíková, chair of the Czech Professional Society for Inclusive Education (ČOSIV). A large number of these children are therefore being incorrectly assigned to the "practical schools".

"With the use of the necessary support measures, they could receive a quality education just like any other children do in the regular schools," Laurenčíková says. Other steps to improve the guarantee of equal access to education are, according to Deputy Education Minister Fryč, included in an already-drafted amendment to the School Act which offers a system of support measures for pupils with special educational needs. 

The Education Ministry expects further implementation of the Action Plan to come through amendments adopted to Decrees No. 72 and 73 on the provision of counseling services and on the education of pupils and students with special educational needs. "New diagnostic tools have already been distributed and introduced into practice. They are introducing a completely new element to the diagnostics, as they take the pupil’s sociocultural environment into account. In the final result, therefore, the children’s educational prospects will be more comprehensively evaluated. Targeted support measures for them will be established on that basis," Deputy Education Minister Fryč said.