SRI LANKA: A leading girl’s school in Colombo refuses to assist a Grade 8 student, with special needs

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information about a child with special needs being unable to attend school as a result of a leading girl’s school in Colombo refusing to provide her with the necessary facilities. The child, since birth, has been unable to walk and needs a wheel chair to be supported and accompanied by a parent at all times. The school’s administration, since the beginning of this year, has allocated a classroom on the 3rd floor of a building and the mother was compelled to carry her up three flights of stairs into the classroom every day. When this was becoming difficult for the mother she often had to request also the assistance of the child’s father, to carry the child into the classroom. Since the beginning of this year the school’s administration has disallowed the child’s father from entering the school’s premises citing the reason that since it is a ‘girl’s only’ school it is inappropriate to allow her husband to enter the premises. As a result, the child is now unable to attend school. Sri Lanka has acknowledged the rights of children with special needs in the Government ‘Extraordinary Gazette notification published 17 October, 2006 and has introduced Disabled Persons (Accessibility) Regulations No 01 of 2006 which states that disabled persons should be given more access to public places and services. The school administration’s blatant disregard of these regulations is a clear violation of the rights of the child to education and her parents seek urgent intervention to obtain relief.

CASE NARRATIVE:

According to information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Ms. A K D C Subashini, 34 years old, of No. 9/1, Gomez Park, Bambalapitiya in Colombo District is a mother of the 14 year old differently abled girl child, in question who requires special assistance due to a birth disability.

The student, is faced with difficulty in walking and needs to be accompanied at all times to attend to her day to day needs as she cannot walk without assistance and she had been born with the condition. She cannot walk on her own and has to at all times, use a wheelchair. The student, 14 years old is presently studying in Grade 8 at the Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo – which is one of Sri Lanka’s most prestigious girls’ schools. With the school administration’s decision not allow her father to enter the school premises, she has been unable to attend school, and has thus denied her of the basic right to continue her education.

She has been a student of the Visakha Vidyalaya since Grade 1. Early this year, 2015 the school’s administration decided to locate her classroom to the 3rd floor of the building in the school and with that, the student’s mother has to carry her three flights of stairs into her classroom. The mother says that it is difficult for her alone, to carry her daughter up three flights of stairs and that she would ask her husband (the child’s father) to assist. With the school’s stubborn directive blatantly disregarding the child’s condition not to allow her husband into the school premises and as a result she has missed school for the past three months. When her husband assisted in accompanying the student to the classroom the school authorities have informed him not come, stating as reason that “…it is not suitable’ for a father, a male to come carrying a daughter, because Grade 8 students are considered as ‘young adults’.

As the student is growing in age, the mother says she is unable to carry her, on her own, up three flights of stairs to the third floor into her class room. She says that on several occasions she had fallen down with the child while taking her up the stairs. Therefore, she had to stop sending her daughter to school.

The student’s mother says that repeated requests to the school’s authorities/administration for help, fell on deaf ears and no action whatsoever had been taken by them to this day nor have they given any concern to the parent’s plight. When the parents met the school principal, she has refused their request and said she can’t remove the class room from the third floor for the sake of one student.

After several such unsuccessful meetings with the principal, the parents decided to seek a remedy from Ministry of Education in Sri Lanka. However, the mother stated that officers of the Education Ministry informed them that the matter should be resolved with the principal and did not provide any justifiable answer. She states that her daughter is fully able to continue her studies and attend school as other children except that she needs special care for mobility and that like other children she also has the right to education.

The parents have also made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to seek their intervention in this matter. HRC accepted the complaint provided the case reference as No: HRC/630/15. Following the complaint, the HRCSL had recorded statements from both parties – the parents as well as the school authorities and the process has been postponed till the 21st April 2015.

This incident is taking place in the backdrop of a growing understanding around the world that differently abled persons should be given more access to public places and services. An Extraordinary Gazette notification published by the Government of Sri Lanka on October 17, 2006, introduced Disabled Persons (Accessibility) Regulations No 1 of 2006. Which states that:

…“The provisions of these regulations shall be applicable to all public buildings, public places and to places where common services are available, to which buildings, places and services persons with disabilities have access,

Provided that all existing public buildings, public places and places where common services are available, shall within a period of three years from the coming into operation of these regulations, be made accessible to persons with disabilities in compliance with the provisions of these regulations.”

The parents state that the school administration has denied her daughter, access to education and are in blatant violation of her right to have an education. They further state, that the school comes under the purview of the Central Government’s Ministry of Education and that its actions can be considered as executive and administrative action under the purview of fundamental rights violation in the Chapter III of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. She further states that the school authorities are violating her child’s fundamental rights by discriminating her amongst other children – right to equality which is also enshrined in the Constitution under the Article 12. The parents are seeking justice and relief for the violation of their child’s rights and seek urgent intervention to safeguard her right to continue educational activities.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS

The Salamanca Statement is considered as the internationally agreed core document on the rights of the children with special needs. It has been respected by many countries all over the world. More than 300 participants representing 92 governments and 25 international organizations met in Salamanca, Spain, from 7 to 10 June 1994 to further the objective of Education for All by considering the fundamental policy shifts required to promote the approach of inclusive education, namely enabling schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs. At the end of the conference the Salamanca Statement was issued and today it is considered as the primary and most important document in relation to the education of children with special needs. It clearly states that the requisites and necessities of providing opportunities for the children with special needs in the mainstream education systems. It elaborates on the duties and responsibilities of school’s management as follows.

School management

35. Local administrators and school heads can play a major role in making schools more responsive to children with special educational needs if they are given necessary authority and adequate training to do so. They should be invited to develop more flexible management procedures, to re deploy instructional resources, to diversify learning options, to mobilize child – to – child help, to offer support to pupils experiencing difficulties and to develop close relations with parents and the community. Successful school management depends upon the active and creative involvement of teachers and staff, and the development of effective co-o p e ration and team work to meet the needs of students.

36. School heads have a special responsibility in promoting positive attitudes throughout the school community and in arranging for effective co-operation between class teachers and support staff. Appropriate arrangements for support and the exact role to be played by various partners in the educational process should be decided through consultation and negotiation.

37. Each school should be a community collectively accountable for the success or failure of every student. The educational team, rather than the individual teacher, should share the responsibility for the education of special needs children. Parents and volunteers should be invited to take an active part in the work of the school. Teachers, however, play a key role as the managers of the educational process, supporting chi l d re n t h rough the use of available resources both within and outside of the classroom.

The State of Sri Lanka too has taken several positive steps to make sure the rights of children with special needs as mentioned above.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please request the authorities to provide the necessary facilities to this student who needs special care for her to be able to continue her education. All officers involved must be subject to internal investigations for breach of departmental orders. Please note that the AHRC will write a separate letter to the Chairperson, of UN Committee on the rights of the child.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER