About article24

52. The Committee is concerned about the:

(a)   Perpetuation of segregated special education of children with disabilities, through medical-based assessments, making education in regular environments inaccessible for children with disabilities, especially for children with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities and those who require more intensive support, as well as the existence of special needs education classes in regular schools;

(b)   Denials to admit children with disabilities to regular schools due to its perceived and factual unpreparedness to admit them, and the ministerial notification issued in 2022 by which students in special classes should not spend their time in regular classes for more than half of their school time;

(c)   Insufficient provision of reasonable accommodation for students with disabilities;

(d)   Lack of skills of and negative attitudes on inclusive education of regular education teachers;

(e)   Lack of alternative and augmentative modes and methods of communication and information in regular schools, including sign language education for deaf children, and inclusive education for deafblind children;

(f)   Lack of national comprehensive policy, addressing barriers for students with disabilities at higher education, including university entrance exams and the study process.

52. Recalling its general comment No. 4 (2016) on the right to inclusive education and the Sustainable Development Goal 4, target 4.5 and indicator 4 (a), the Committee urges that the State party:

(a)   Recognize the right of children with disabilities to inclusive education within its national policy on education, legislation and administrative arrangement with the aim to cease segregated special education, and adopt a national action plan on quality inclusive education, with specific targets, time frames and sufficient budget, to ensure that all students with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodation and the individualized support they need at all levels of education;

(b)   Ensure accessibility to regular schools for all children with disabilities, and put in place a "non-rejection" clause and policy to ensure that regular schools are not allowed to deny regular school for students with disabilities, and withdraw the ministerial notification related to special classes;

(c)   Guarantee reasonable accommodations for all children with disabilities for meeting their individual educational requirements and ensuring inclusive education;

(d)   Ensure training of regular education teachers and non-teaching education personnel on inclusive education and raise their awareness on the human right model of disability;

(e)   Guarantee the use of augmentative and alternative modes and methods of communication in regular settings of education, including Braille, Easy Read, sign language education for deaf children, promote the deaf culture in inclusive educational environments, and access to inclusive education for deafblind children;

(f)   Develop a national comprehensive policy, addressing barriers for students with disabilities at higher education, including university entrance exams and the study process.