Minimum Services Minimize Impact on Students with Special Needs

The coordinator of the Other Citizen movement said on Wednesday that he was satisfied with the introduction of minimum services in schools, believing that this will minimize the impact of strikes on students with special educational needs.

“These are even minimal services because teachers are only there to keep an eye on students, but it opens up an opportunity to reduce the impact,” said Miguel Azevedo Lusa.

From this Wednesday, schools must provide a set of minimum services introduced in connection with the indefinite strike of education workers, according to the decision of the Arbitration Court, which is particularly concerned about children and youth with special educational needs.

For this reason, schools must guarantee, among other things, support for students who benefit from additional measures within the framework of inclusive education, as well as therapeutic support.

Asked if it is possible to provide such support, given the reduction in the number of professionals providing support to these students, Miguel Azevedo said that this is actually a problem under normal circumstances, for which the parent-teacher associations were on the alert.

However, only minimal services are currently involved, he recalled, adding that, while not ideal, it allows students to be controlled, even if other members of the educational community do this.

“We have reports that everything is going exactly as expected,” said the Movement coordinator, stressing that the situation has already improved after Lusa reported that dozens of children with disabilities were affected by the strike. some schools neglect these students.

“We feel a lot of care from groups and teachers, situations like the ones we report don’t happen anymore,” he said.

On the other hand, Miguel Azevedo admitted that he is concerned that the minimum services will only last until the end of the week, with shutdowns continuing at least until the end of February.

The minimum services that have started in schools only refer to the strike called by the Union of All Educational Professionals (STOP), but guarantee that no educational institution will be closed, regardless of the strike that teachers and staff join.

According to clarifications from the Ministry of Education sent to the National Association of Heads of Groups and Comprehensive Schools, “the established minimum services must be performed in all educational and educational institutions on the established days, regardless of the number of previous classes.” strike notices for each of these days.”

There are currently four strikes organized by various trade union structures.

In addition to supporting students with special educational needs, schools must also provide support for students in vulnerable situations, enrollment of students in units integrated into Learning Support Centers, continuity of measures aimed at social and emotional well-being, as part of the learning recovery plan, meals and concierge services. and observation of students.

This is the third time that minimum services have been introduced for schools, which have only been provided since 2013, when education was included among the “basic social needs” provided for by law.