Students with disabilities suffer from lack of support in schools in São Paulo, say parents

Parents of students with disabilities report that their children are having difficulties following classes at the beginning of the school year, due to the lack of agents to help them during activities, locomotion, hygiene and food in the municipal network of São Paulo.

Those responsible for these children and adolescents, enrolled in schools located in the west, north and south of the city, have reported these situations through a letter or petition.

In a note to the report, the Municipal Department of Education (SME) says that it has a selection process to recruit up to 6,000 interns —students of pedagogy and degrees such as letters, mathematics, geography, history, physical education, English and the arts— to help teachers in classes where there are students with disabilities or autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The main complaint from parents is precisely the lack of teachers to support and monitor inclusion, teachers of specialized educational services, school life assistants and interns in the Learning Without Limits program.

According to the secretariat, the institutions managed by the São Paulo City Hall receive 18,200 students with disabilities, including children and adults, and have a network of 4,000 employees designated to serve them.

In addition to these professionals, the secretariat informs that it has multidisciplinary teams composed of social workers, speech therapists and psychologists in each of the Regional Directorates of Education and the 13 Centers for Training and Monitoring Inclusion.

In theory, by the numbers, each of the employees is responsible for helping up to five students. In practice, this relationship may be even more unequal. This contingent of thousands of students is spread over different classes and periods, which can increase the need for assistants in a particular school or classes.

When comparing these numbers, Carolina Videira, a specialist in inclusive education and founder of the NGO Turma do Jiló, says that there is a discrepancy between the number of students and the number of employees in the municipal network. “It’s not such a simple measurement to make, there are students with disabilities and autonomy, but others who need this help all the time, from arrival at the school building to activities with the materials”, says Videira.

“Yes, the lack of these professionals is noticeable, but it will not be solved only by hiring interns. It is necessary that all school employees are prepared to remove attitudinal barriers, that architectural barriers are broken.”

Student at Emef (Municipal Elementary School) José Dias da Silveira, in Vila Cordeiro, south zone, Felipe, 13, has cerebral palsy, microcephaly and autism spectrum disorder. According to his mother, Sheila de Jesus Macedo, 33, the boy has difficulties in motor coordination and suffers from limitations in his vision and speech.

Enrolled in the 8th grade, Felipe has not yet learned to read and write, says Sheila. “He needs special attention, but they release him in a class with almost 40 students and, in the end, he can’t keep up with the others. He doesn’t have any professional to accompany him”, says Sheila.

“Almost every day it is a problem. He is aggressive, wants to hit others and suffers embarrassment”, says the mother.

Aline de Jesus Ramos and her son Eduardo, 11, who has autism, live in Paraisópolis, in the extreme south of the country. She fought to get her son a place at the José Dias da Silveira school, almost 8 km from her home, because of the good reputation in the care of students with disabilities.

“For almost three weeks my son hasn’t been to school because he doesn’t have an intern, and so it’s impossible. Eduardo needs someone since [para monitorar] the use of the mask, which he takes off all the time, even to learn”, says Eduardo’s mother, enrolled in the 6th year of elementary school. “The school [José Dias da Silveira] It’s not their fault, the employees even try hard, but the system doesn’t seem to care about the special child.”

Her concern is that, during the virtual classes, Eduardo was so agitated (and outside the school environment), he could barely concentrate on the lessons. “It’s very cool the city hall’s attitude of distributing tablets to students, but not everyone understands the teachers. Only those who live with a special child know the difficulties”, she laments.

There was also a request for help for children enrolled at Emef Gabriel Sylvestre Teixeira de Carvalho, in Parque Maria Domitila, in the west. In a letter, a mother reports a lack of professionals to care for children who need care and monitoring at school.

The letter integrates the representation of councilor Silvia Ferraro (Psol), who makes up the feminist bench in the São Paulo City Council, to the Public Ministry of São Paulo. With other statements from parents, the parliamentarian asks the Public Prosecutor’s Office to officiate the SME to clarify the situation of these students and the contract between the City of São Paulo and the CIEE (Center for Company-School Integration).

State deputy Carlos Giannazi and councilor Celso Giannazi, both from Psol, also filed for representation at the São Paulo Public Ministry on Thursday (3).

According to them, there are schools with around 40 children with disabilities with only one or no professional to help them.

Another Giannazi complaint filed with the Public Ministry concerns the CEU Perus complex, in the north of the capital, where the only elevator has been banned since 2019. Residents of the neighborhood made a petition with 116 signatures, in February 2020, to request elevator repair.

“We had no response. The suggestion at DRE Pirituba/Jaraguá is for parents to look for other schools. CEU Perus has excellent teachers, a competent board and is not in the least able to receive wheelchair users”, says Gislene Oliveira da Silva, one of the organizers. of the undersigned and mother of Alexandra, 10, who has low vision.

In a note to the report, the SME advisory informed that the schools mentioned in the text —José Dias da Silveira, Gabriel Sylvestre Teixeira de Carvalho and CEU Perus— bring together, respectively, 31, 22 and 25 students from the Special Education program, but does not say the number of professionals available to students in these units.

“The units have multifunctional and professionally equipped resource rooms, in addition to interns to assist in the care of students”, says the secretary.

To apply for an intern, the university student must access the CIEE portal and take tests in Portuguese, mathematics and general knowledge.

“The selected ones receive a scholarship worth R$ 897.50, 30% higher than in previous years, whose value was R$ 690.36, in addition to a transport allowance of R$ 193.60. four hours a day, totaling 20 hours a week”, says the secretary.

Regarding the banned elevator at CEU Perus, the advisory informed that a bidding process for building maintenance is in progress by the Municipal Department of Urban Infrastructure and Works (Siurb). However, it does not say when the repair is expected to be completed.