Many Latvian schools are not suitable for children with special needs

Inclusive education provides for a wide range of support for the child, including the accessibility of the environment, but only some educational institutions, including special schools, meet all the requirements. Currently, there are 702 schoolchildren with visual, hearing and physical impairments studying in general education institutions, which is 0.22% of the total number. In turn, there are 16,082 schoolchildren with disabilities in the development of language, learning and mental health, which is already 5% of the total number. There are 2,057 children with special needs, or 7.3%, studying in vocational schools, of which 453, or 1.6%, have disabilities. However, only 395 out of 621 kindergartens are suitable for children with functional disabilities (they have an elevator, lift, specially equipped toilets, doors and other equipment), and 95 partially meet the requirements.

Out of 590 secondary schools, 131 were recognized as meeting the requirements, and 227 were partially compliant. But not all special schools have a sufficiently good accessibility of the environment: out of 39 there are only 20, 17 schools are partially accessible to people with disabilities.

This review was presented at a meeting of the Sejm Commission on Human Rights and Public Affairs by Olga Ozola, Deputy Director of the Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Science for Inclusive Education. Regarding accessibility improvements, in the previous planning period, with the support of European Union structural funds, the training and public infrastructure of 24 vocational schools was modernized and equipment was purchased.

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