The Municipal Audit Court (TCM) considered that the number of employees hired by the São Paulo City Hall to assist students with disabilities enrolled in schools managed by Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) is insufficient.
Currently, educational institutions in the municipal network receive 18,220 students with disabilities, including children and adolescents. The management informed the TCM that it brings together 1,137 professionals working as AVE (school life assistant) and 1,257 interns of the Learning Without Limits program.
According to the ordinance that establishes the inclusive education policy in the city, in 2016, each AVE must serve two to six students per shift. In exceptional cases, it is possible for a professional to be assigned to accompany a single student, provided that they are approved by the Center for Training and Monitoring of Inclusion (Cefai).
The AVE is responsible for functions such as helping students with locomotion, hygiene habits and changing clothes. The intern of the Learning Without Limits program is responsible for helping students to carry out pedagogical activities and assessment processes.
“Whereas, as informed by SME [Secretaria Municipal de Educação], there are 18,220 students with special needs who are certified; and that the current contingent of AVEs attended 5,538 students, and that the Learning without Limits internship program served 2,516 classrooms, with an estimated average attendance of 7,064 students (base March/22), it is verified that the current attendance of the programs does not cover the total number of students with special needs”, wrote counselor Mauricio Faria, education reporter at TCM. The report had access to the report signed by Farias on the 12th of this month.
In a note to Sheet, the Municipal Department of Education (SME) said that not every student targeted by special education needs an assistant. This Tuesday, the pass stated that the contracting of another 300 AVEs is in process.
The secretariat also states that, in addition to these two types of collaborators, it counts on the presence of all the teaching staff that have Cefai at their disposal. “The municipal network has about 4,000 employees working in special education, in various areas,” she said.
TCM questioned the Nunes administration after receiving complaints from state deputy Carlos Giannazi and councilor Celso Giannazi, both from PSOL, about the lack of these agents.
On the 9th of March, the Sheet showed reports of parents of students with disabilities who pointed out their children’s difficulties in following classes due to lack of support.
The complaint presented to the TCM pointed out three schools where there are possible discrepancies between the number of students enrolled and the number of servers available. The court then officiated the directors of the three colleges.
To the organ, the board of Emef (Municipal School of Fundamental Education) Ana Maria Alves Benetti, in Vila Campestre (south zone), replied that it brings together, in the morning and afternoon, 36 students with some kind of disability and, among them, 23 need stroke care.
To serve them, the school, however, said it has one AVE, which works full-time, and another intern only in the afternoon.
With the lack of support, Ana Paula Duarte Silva and Katiane de Fátima da Silva have been attending classes, as far as possible, to help their children — João Lucas and Luiz Henrique, respectively.
“I can’t go every day, but I’m in the classroom just to meet the schedule. I don’t have the background and training to teach my son”, says Ana Paula. “João Lucas is autistic, the doctors advise that, at school, he will be able to develop more, but that is not what is happening and I am very worried.”
Katiane classifies the situation as “distressing”. “I feel like I’m at sea and feeling thirsty. On paper it’s beautiful, they say that children need to have this contact with others, but it doesn’t work in practice”, she says.
“Luiz Henrique has microcephaly, he is a calm and happy child, he needs a person by his side all the time. The teacher teaches a lesson on the board, I try to do it with him, but we didn’t study for that.”
According to Emef Bernado O’Higgins, in Vila Alexandria, in the south zone, another school approached by TCM, there are 24 students to be attended, but the team has two interns and two AVEs.
The board said it needs at least nine professionals and mentioned that one family has refused to send the child to choice because of a shortage of assistants. There is also a record of a mother who has gone to classes to help her son.
The board of Emef Carlos Augusto de Queiroz Rocha, in Jardim Miriam, in the south zone, stated that it serves 14 students and ten in an investigative process and has only one intern and one AVE.
In a note to the report, the SME differed from the numbers of servers presented by the three schools and says that it acts in accordance with the municipal ordinance.
“We inform you that Emef Professor Ana Maria Alves Benetti has 3 AVEs to serve 7 students in the morning and 14 in the afternoon. Emef Bernardo O’Higgins has the support of 2 AVEs for the care of 3 students in the morning and 9 in the afternoon. Finally, Emef Carlos Augusto de Queiroz Rocha has the support of 1 AVE that serves 2 students in the morning and 4 in the afternoon”, says the secretary.
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