Discrimination against pupils with learning disabilities and autism through the withholding of the necessary adaptations by the European Schools and discrimination against MEPs, officials and servants of the European Institutions with children with learning disabilities and autism through the decision of the European Schools to exclude these children (www.eursc.org).

Please follow the link to the entire petition document sent to the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament by Mr. Wasilios Katsioulis: CLICK HERE

The case
The European School, in the person of its Deputy Secretary-General, refused to allow my son Lucas Katsioulis, 9 years old, to attend the school for the reason that he is autistic. My son was accepted in the school in January 2009 – after a two-month delay – after the school had employed special staff (there was no staff for disabled children), but had to leave again under a decision by the school dated 30 April 2009. Since the end of May 2009 – after a public outcry – he has not attended school, since no real alternative was specified, and he is being looked after all day by my wife, which is very difficult for her (looking after an autistic child is known to be very difficult for the family, and all the more so after the child has been excluded from school).
My child is not receiving any schooling because my wife is not a trained teacher and in Brussels – my current place of work – there is no other schooling option available in German, my son’s mother tongue and the only one he understands and speaks, or „with qualified staff in the specific field“2 (see exclusion decision below).
The school essentially excludes children with learning disabilities or autistic disorders without in any way troubling to assist them further. This is the case both for the European Schools and for the competent department in the European Commission, DG ADMIN (Commissioner Kallas).
I quote from page 14 of the decision of the Deputy Secretary-General of the European School of 19 May 2009:
„This is a severe learning disability which the school cannot deal with. The School must recommend that the parents seek another suitable school that has qualified staff for the specific field.“
The petitioner informs the Committee on Petitions that the school’s claim that it „cannot“ deal with the case is inaccurate: rather, it does not want to deal with it.
The petitioner is not aware – and neither were other colleagues who were asked – of a single instance in which a child with a learning disability or autism was allowed to attend the European School long-term or obtain the only available leaving diploma, the European Baccalaureate. Moreover, the necessary re-structuring of the inflexible school structure (didactic, teacher-led, face-to-face instruction) and the withholding of suitable adaptations for pupils with learning disabilities (more about this later) is a basic requirement for the aim of integrating children with learning disabilities. According to the school there are no financial obstacles, because it is amply financed with EUR 3.5 million to make adaptations for learning disabilities; detailed shortcomings of the SEN programme are given in the complaint.

Brussels, 24 September 2009
Wasilios Katsioulis