Ministry of Education will send autistic girl to school for retarded students: "just abuse"

The only media class for girls in which 12-year-old Naama is studying at an institution for ultra-Orthodox children will be closed, and the Petition Municipality and the Ministry of Education are working to transfer it to another setting, where children with severe retardation are studying. Her mother is furious about the move and claims it will severely harm her daughter's education: "Crime big"

No new students are accepted. 12-year-old Naama

Girl on autistic continuity (Photo: Untitled)

About two years ago, Naama, a 12-year-old girl on the obesity spectrum, moved from the Dawn School in Petah Tikva to the "New Light" school - an ultra-Orthodox educational institution for children ages 6-12 on the autistic continuum. This is a boys school, where one communication class for girls. But last year, the Education Ministry announced that the girls 'classroom would be closed, as it is a boys' school, and would move the girls to other schools, instead of properly preparing and opening a framework for girls who need a media school.

Because even last year there was no proper organization of the Ministry of Education and the notice was given in the first days of schooling, the girls' parents set up field workers and came to school. And so it happened that this year the school operates a class of girls consisting of the girls they studied with last year, without the admission of new students.

A few days ago, Eti, Naama's mother, learned that her daughter would not be able to continue at school the next year, because of her age, which exceeded the limits set by the Ministry of Education. Instead, the government office suggested that Naama be transferred to a "Sarah Tent" school that cares for children with mental retardation and severe disabilities rather than the autistic continuum. The mother refused the proposal because she did not want to move her daughter to an unsuitable setting, and now she is in fact facing a broken trough when she does not know what will happen to her daughter's education next year.

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"It's a school that doesn't fit my daughter at all." Naama and her mother are with me

Ministry of Education wants to transfer a girl on the spectrum to the school for students with retardation (Photo: Image processing)

In fact, the National Association of Children and Alumni with Autism, which handles Naama's case, claims that the situation raises a cross-cutting problem in ultra-Orthodox society, where there are not enough suitable classes and frameworks to build on the continuum. The education system offers them solutions that do not meet the needs and does not worry about preparing and opening classes, And so it turns out that the girls are placed in inappropriate or distant frames.

"This is a school that is not at all suitable for my daughter," she told me. "I asked the municipality how it could be done to her, and I was told there were no other options." The mother said that the municipality even suggested that she make adjustments and diagnose her daughter as having additional disabilities that would allow her to be admitted to "Sarah's Tent," which she says is adapted "for students with mental retardation and disabilities and very severe disabilities."

The Ministry of Education said: "The Ministry, in coordination with the mother, will place the student in an educational setting that provides a proper and appropriate response to her personal needs."

"We are her mouth"

The situation with me and her daughter raises many questions and serious allegations against the mother's Ministry of Education. "If 'New Light' is a media school that fits my daughter's situation exactly, why not leave her there and help her keep her safe?", Asks me. "At the end of this year, she should leave school without a proper solution. A big thing that can be done in front of a helpless girl, instead of coming towards me and helping me. What am I asking for overall, a place of study to suit her and not do her wrong? "

The mother also said: "How does the Ministry of Education want to put a girl with autism with children with retardation? No connection between the cases, what do they want to deteriorate her situation? That's how the Education Ministry cares for the children of Israel? This is a helpless girl who depends on her father and mother. For her, we're her mouth and her back. Every little change makes a 180-degree makeover for her. She's starting to do things for us that we stand on the sidelines and go crazy for. She has a team that knows her and loves you and that's just abuse. "

Advocate Hadas Arnon Sharabi, Advocate for Advocacy at ULT, said: "The case in question again indicates the lack of preparedness of the Ministry of Education against the needs that arise in the field. The ministry does not plan ahead and cannot allow students on the continuum to study in appropriate educational settings for their needs. It is inconceivable that the Ministry of Education will abandon the girls in the ultra-Orthodox society and force their parents to struggle year after year in the system, devise solutions for them or send them to incompatible frameworks. , To prepare for the opening of the next school year in a manner that answers death Of all students, regardless of gender or sector ".