Enforcement of the rights of pupils with special needs

Based on Paragraph (1) of Article 30 of the Public Education Act, it is the right of a child or pupil with special needs to receive pedagogical, special educational, conductive pedagogical care within the framework of special care as made necessary by his or her state from the time his or her special needs are identified. Special care should be provided based on the age and condition of the child, the pupil, and as stated in the professional opinion of the expert and rehabilitation committee (hereinafter referred to as expert committee) through examining learning ability. The specific content of the right to special care as regulated by the Public Education Act is, therefore, determined by the content of the professional opinion of the expert committee. On the other side, parallel with this are the obligations of the parents, the training-educational institution, the local authority and other bodies with public educational duties. The pupil with special needs is entitled to pupil status in the public educational institution determined by the expert opinion and the parent is obliged to enrol him or her in the institution. If the pupil wishes to change school within the given school type, the pupil or the parent should inform the expert committee in writing. If the chosen school is included in the list of institutions in relation to the given special need, the expert committee acknowledges the announcement in writing and modifies the regulations of the professional opinion regarding the appointed school.

A parent turned to our Office because he did not want to enrol his child in the special school appointed in the professional opinion. He was informed that if he had signed the professional opinion, but later disagreed with the appointment of the school, he may initiate a procedure to change the professional opinion. (K-OJOG-399/2002.)

In the given public educational institution the pupil is entitled to receive the special care determined in the professional opinion - rehabilitation lesson allocation, receiving individual improvement activity, use of auxiliary devices during testing etc. - and the institution is obliged to provide these. Under the Public Education Act, the pupil fulfils his or her compulsory school attendance - based on the parent's choice - through attending school or as a private learner. In the case of pupils with special needs, this right of the parent to choose may be constrained by the professional opinion of the expert committee. The professional opinion should include the statement whether the pupil with special needs can fulfil his or her compulsory school attendance solely through attending school, or based on the parent's decision through attending school or as a private learner, or solely as a private learner. The institution has no rights of decision in this question.

A parent was interested whether a school could classify his pupil with slight mental handicap as a private learner. He was informed that the institution could not pass such a decision. The parent did not ask further procedures from us. (K-OJOG-710/2002.)

The state operates the system of public education according to the Public Education Act with a view to enforcing the right to special care. Kindergartens, primary schools, vocational schools, secondary schools, pupils' dormitories and pedagogical professional services are therefore provided through the institution-maintaining activities of state organs and municipalities, or within the framework of state or local municipal task fulfilment. The participation of pupils with physical, sensory, mental, speech or other handicaps in education, and their pupils' dormitory care in institutions maintained by the state or by the municipalities, is free in every case. Besides the appropriate fulfilment of duties, the municipalities are not obliged to aid the payment of the education fee of a foundation school or itself assume the payment. If a parent chooses an educational institution operated by a foundation, any involved payment obligations fall on the parent.

The parent of a child with learning difficulties requested the local authority to aid the payment of the education fee of the foundation school appointed by the professional opinion and complained to our Office about the local authority rejecting his request. We found that the municipal decision does not offend the law. The parent was informed that should he want to enrol his child in an institution maintained by the state or the local authority, he should request the modification of the professional opinion with regard to its disposition concerning the appointed school. (K-OJOG-162/2002.)

A parent wrote concerning what possibilities he had to receive aid to pay the costs of a foundation school. He was informed that although the local authority has no obligation, it may provide financial support on social or some other basis to cover schooling costs. The application for such aid is different for each local authority. If the local authority does not wish to, or cannot provide aid towards the payment of the pupil's schooling costs, the parent may possibly obtain support from the maintaining authority of the private school, typically via the advisory board of the foundation. (K-OJOG-94/2002.)

The Public Education Act contains the task fulfilment obligations of the municipalities concerning the school care of pupils with special needs. The local authority can decide by evaluating its possibilities whether it fulfils its obligations through the maintenance of institutions, the launching of special classes and the application of an expert, through public educational agreement contract or by other means. However, upon being informed by the expert committee or by the parent that in the case of a pupil school training and education cannot be organised because the list of institutions does not contain a suitable school, the mayor is obliged to ensure that a suitable educational institution becomes available. Furthermore, if needed, the mayor should contact the chief executive of the capital or the county to provide the necessary special educator or other expert from the mobile expert network.

The parent of a pupil with other special needs requested the chief executive and the mayor of a town several times to find a suitable local institution for his child. The requested persons did not answer the question what free educational possibilities were available to the pupil in the town. Because of this, the parent enrolled his child in a different town to fulfil compulsory school attendance and submitted a complaint about the existing situation to our Office. As a result of our investigations, we concluded that the pupil is entitled to special care. The conditions for the enforcement of this right were not provided by the relevant local authority through its failing to inform the parent about free local schools following several requests. As the family had already moved from the town, we turned to the mayor of the local authority offending the law with the proposal that in the future he should take every measure to provide that the local authority ensures the primary school care of pupils with other special care as needed and to provide information concerning this to parents facing the same problems. The case is presently in progress. (K-OJOG-460/2002.)

The training tasks of the parents and the teachers and the fulfilment of the tasks of the educational institutions are helped by pedagogical professional services. Pedagogical professional services have an extremely important role in the training, education and development of pupils with special needs, because they include special education counselling, early development and care, expert and rehabilitation activities examining learning abilities and countrywide expert and rehabilitation activities, training counselling, speech therapy, further education and vocational guidance, conductive pedagogical care and remedial gymnastics. These tasks form an integral part of the system of public education; the failure to provide these can be a grave offence against the participants of education.

The head of an institution turned to our Office with the complaint that some tasks of the pedagogical special services for the pupils of the school are not fulfilled, among others pedagogical counselling, speech therapy sessions and early development. During our procedure, the local authority of the county with task fulfilment obligation informed our Office that in the meantime it had fulfilled the task by concluding a public educational agreement. As the offence of the law was remedied by the local authority in its own competence, we did not take any initiative (K-OJOG-14/2002.)

Even when an institutional network ensuring appropriate provision exists, some people may not have access to the channels of information flow established under the law. We received numerous submissions from parents who could not find a suitable institution for their child with special needs in terms of physical, sensory, mental, speech or other needs. In the context of the existing institutional network, several bodies are charged with the provision of information.

The recorder or chief executive of the local authority maintaining an institution of public education continuously informs the relevant expert committee of the institutions which meet the special conditions needed to provide special care for pupils with special needs. Based on this information, the expert committee draws up a list of those institutions which participate in education of pupils with special needs. The expert committee informs the parents of the children examined by the committee about the possibilities for the child in meeting the obligation of compulsory schooling. The parents select the appropriate educationalinstitution from among those recommended by the expert committee.

Often, the reason why the appropriate institute of public education was not found was that the child did not get to the expert committee, and thus the parent could not learn of the list of institutions. Instead of the expert committees, these pupils were examined by children's hospitals, and the parents relied on the hospital's examination record in finding a suitable educational institution. The input of professionals employed in hospitals is often essential for pupils with special needs, but it cannot replace the examination by the expert committee.

Under Paragraph (2) of Article 10 of Decree 14/1994. (VI. 24.) MKM on compulsory schooling and the special pedagogical service, examination of children and pupils with "other" types of special needs is the task of the capital's or county's expert and rehabilitation committee examining learning skills. The capital's or county's expert and rehabilitation committees examining learning skills initiate examination by the national expert and rehabilitation committee responsible for the examination of speech, intelligence and personality as necessary.

The main objective of such examination is to establish or rule out that the pupil has special needs of some type, and to draw up a recommendation for the most suitable educational arrangement. Additionally, the recommendation of the experts gives guidance to the parents, teachers and heads of institutions in many other respects by presenting a view on issues such as the pedagogical approach to be applied, exemption from certain subjects or parts of subjects, or the private learner status. Thus, the involvement of the expert committee is important not only because it helps the parent select a suitable institution, but also because only the bodies specified in the legislation referred to above may issue an expert opinion which, under the Public Education Act, is legally binding for the parents, pupils and institutions. In addition, such opinions may only be issued in a procedure where the rules of such procedure stipulated in the same legislation are observed. In our opinion, attendance at such an examination is a prerequisite of enforcement of the child's right to special care. Co-operation between the parent an the expert committee can efficiently assist in the child's development and catching up.

One submission concerned a case where the children's hospital and the expert committee were of a different opinion concerning the child of a person turning to us. The committee was of the opinion that the child had a slight mental disability, and recommended that his education take place in a specialised institution. The children's hospital, however, found only partial functional deficiencies, and recommended integrated education for the child in a primary school with a standard curriculum. The parent turned to us for assistance with enrolling the child in a school with a standard curriculum. We informed the parent of the provisions described above and that in the event when he disagrees with the expert opinion, he may initiate the revision of the same. (K-OJOG-333/2002.)

One parent was repeatedly forced to take her child to another primary school because of the child's hyperactivity. None of the institutions proved appropriate, so a new school was sought each time. The parent asked us to help in finding a suitable school. During our inquiry, we found that the child had not been examined by an expert committee, but by a children's hospital. We informed the parent of our legal view concerning examination by a committee, as well as the legal provisions in force. (K-OJOG-633/2002.)

Pupils with physical disability may have a problem with finding a school which is freely accessible for them.

One parent turned to us because he could not find a suitable secondary school for his secondary school child. Upon our inquiry, the chief executive informed the Office that secondary education of pupils with physical and sensory disabilities was available in several institutions, mostly in an integrated arrangement. In addition to the existing institutions, methodology centres provide assistance to education, as well as the placement of pupils who finish primary school. We were also informed that the development plan of the local authority also includes the building of an alternative secondary school for pupils with physical disability, and that an increasing number of schools are already being turned into an institution accessible for all. (K-OJOG-546/2002.)

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