The Canary Islands Platform for Inclusive Education is born, a collective space to fight for the right to an education "without barriers, real and for all people, without exceptions."
Last Saturday, representatives from each island, together with the associations Sentir TEA and Amexe, met in Lanzarote to make this initiative public. This is a network made up of families, education professionals, associations and people committed to human rights, educational justice and the end of school segregation.
This Platform arises as a "response to the systematic violation of the right to inclusion in the Canarian educational system." Thus, its creators have highlighted that "many children with disabilities or with specific educational support needs (SEN) continue to face barriers that limit their learning and their participation on equal terms."
Advice and institutional work
In this sense, they have reported that they have the support of Laura Abadía Benito, an expert advisor in educational law and founder of the Segundo Maestro Association, recognized for her work in the legal defense of students with disabilities or in situations of vulnerability.
Thanks to this collaboration, the Platform has participated in interventions in the Parliament of the Canary Islands and has presented official contributions to the draft of the new Decree on Attention to Diversity, which is currently being prepared by the Ministry of Education. However, to date, the administration has not responded to these proposals.
Urgent demands
These are its main demands:
- End educational segregation for reasons of disability or diagnosis.
- Sufficient personal and material resources in ordinary centers.
- Mandatory teacher training in inclusion, accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
- Effective participation of families in educational processes.
- Elimination of bureaucratic barriers to access to public education for students with SEN.
- Compliance and supervision of the current legal framework, especially the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ratified by Spain in 2008.
A call to collective action
The Platform seeks to position itself as "a space for accompaniment, denunciation, training and political advocacy." In addition, they have made a call to the entire Canarian society - families, teachers, organizations and public officials - "to build together an inclusive school, where all people have room and real opportunities." To conclude, they have claimed that "inclusion is not a favor: it is a right that must be respected and guaranteed."
