E/1982/3/Add.16
English Page 26
Provision for physically or mentally handicapped children
9.
Section 34 (2) c. of the Act imposes a duty on the Board of Education to have regard to the need for securing that provision is made for pupils who suffer from any disability of mind or body by providing, either in special schools or otherwise, special educational treatment; that is to say, education by special methods appropriate for persons suffering from this disability. There is a further duty on the Board of Education under section 34 (2) d. to have regard to the expediency of securing the provision of boarding accommodation, either in boarding schools or otherwise, for pupils for whom education as boarders is considered by their parents and by the Board to be desirable.
10.
The Board of Education runs one special school for the mentally handicapped on the Island. Attached to the school there are two hostels, providing residential accommodation for children in attendance at the school. In appropriate cases children are also sent to residential schools elsewhere in the British Isles. Recently, the Board has developed a system where mentally and physically handicapped children are educated in units attached to ordinary schools. Currently, three secondary schools have such units, and it is the policy of the Board to increase this provision to eventually meet the needs of children of primary school age. This is in recognition of the need to integrate handicapped children into the community at large. The Board also has a special unit, attached to a primary school, for deaf children and partially hearing children. Children of secondary school age who suffer from this handicap are either accommodated in residential schools in England or attend within the ordinary school. In the latter case a peripatetic teacher is employed to assist schools in meeting their needs. A peripatetic teacher of the blind is also employed to aid the few children who are visually handicapped, but educated none the less in ordinary schools. In the cases where education cannot effectively be supplied on the Island because of the degree of the handicap of a child, the Board of Education secures placements in residential schools elsewhere in the British Isles. All special education is provided free of charge to the parent, regardless of its nature.
Provision for children at risk owing to the neglect of parents or otherwise
11. The Children and Young Persons Act, 1966 to 1974, imposes on the Board of Education a duty to care for children who are without parents or whose parents are, for any reason, unable to care for them themselves. To carry out this responsibility the legislation enables the Board to, in specified circumstances, assume parental rights under certain prescribed circumstances, and subject to the rights of parents to appeal to the courts against the exercise of its assumption.
The Board is empowered to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent the taking of children into care, by giving aid, financial or otherwise, to parents.
12.
13.
To enable the Board of Education to provide adequate care for children where responsibility has been assumed, the Board is empowered to organize a system of fostering, to support the attendance of children in childrens' homes or to take any measure it deems necessary in the interests of the child.
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