O USP Journal on Air received today (8) Biancha Angelucci, a professor in the Department of Philosophy of Education and Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Education (FE) of USP, to comment on the new National Special Education Policy (PNEE), launched with reservations from experts regarding the approach to inclusion. This new policy seeks to expand educational assistance through specialized classes and schools exclusively for students with disabilities, without interaction with general education students.
Teacher Carla states that the decree constitutes a huge setback. “Since 2018, under the Temer administration, they have been seeking changes to inclusive education policy. But at this moment, in the middle of a pandemic, without consultations or discussions with education workers, it is a situation we were not expecting,” she points out.
According to her, this decree conflicts with the Constitution and with documents from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which have the status of a constitutional amendment. These documents are based on inclusive education, that is, an education common to all, carried out with people in the general education system. “Disability is a relational concept,” explains the professor, “meaning it does not refer to characteristics; it is not a synonym for impairment. It is our society, along with its instruments, that prevents these people from living their lives with dignity.”.
Another setback is related to the conception of disability as a pathology, which is gaining ground once again. “We, as society, are the ones who must guarantee rights. We cannot, once again, propagate the idea that, because of their disability, someone cannot benefit from the school environment. In this line of thinking, the person with a disability is blamed for not feeling included in an organization that is not prepared for them,” Carla criticizes.
She explains that, precisely because she conceives of disability as the absence of equality in society, a policy of specialized educational support was constructed, such as special multimedia classrooms. “We created this set of supports and made it available to the public school system,” she says. Carla states that before this first inclusive education policy, there were approximately 3,000 enrollments of students with disabilities in the public school system. “Today, we have more than 1.2 million enrollments in the public school system. It is not enough, but it is a process that creates more and more educational opportunities.”
The new plan places a greater burden on the family's decision whether or not to adhere to the new policy. “It seems to be the most alluring aspect: that the family chooses. But choosing between the guarantee of social participation and segregation, that is no choice,” points out Carla. From the standpoint of public policy, there cannot be an offer of a segregated space. If the school is not being sufficient to offer everything to which children are entitled, there must be more public investment, structuring, and restructuring.
Listen to the full interview at the link.
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SOURCE:
USP JOURNAL
