The Commissioner for Administration and Protection of Human Rights finds that children with disabilities are being treated unfavourably 'because of the refusal to provide them with the necessary reasonable adjustments by varying the test of the Pancyprian Access Examinations', Maria Stylianou Lottidi, in a report concerning a specific case of discrimination on the grounds of disability, which arose due to the refusal to provide reasonable adjustments to a student with a disability during the examinations.
In its report, which is being made public, the Commissioner notes that children with disabilities attending the Pancyprian Access Examinations "are required to sit a common/standardised examination essay, resulting in discrimination against them with regard to access to education on the basis of their disability, in violation of Article 6 of Law 42(I)/2004."
The Commissioner shall forward the report to the Director of the Directorate of Higher Education and the Head of the Examinations Service inviting them for consultation on 5 April 2022, in view of the fact that she intends to make a specific recommendation.
The recommendation will be to provide both this case and other children with disabilities "with the necessary reasonable adjustments in the context of the National Access Examinations to enable them to be tested in a differentiated examination essay, based on their assessed and individualised educational needs".
The Commissioner of Administration forwards her report to the Attorney General of the Republic for his necessary actions in this direction, to the House of Representatives for information and to the Cyprus Confederation of Disabled Persons' Organisations (CYSOA).
As Ms. Lottidi, she drafted this report following a complaint submitted to her Office by a mother on behalf of her child with a disability about the failure of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth to respond positively to a request submitted in September 2021 to the Ministry's Examinations Service for the provision of a differentiated test in the Pancyprian Access Examinations."
It adds that the mother "informed the Examinations Service that for the purposes of ensuring his equal attendance at school and access to education on an equal basis with other children, he should be provided with the necessary reasonable adjustments, namely, differentiated examination essays, exemption from the essay test in Modern Greek and from the listening test in English".
Following this development, the Nicosia District Committee for Special Education and Education has already recommended to the Minister of Education the "...renewal of the exceptional approval for differentiated writing..." in the Quarterly Examinations for this student with a disability.
According to the Administrative Commissioner, "in view of this, the complainant requested the Examinations Service to provide her son with a differentiated essay in the context of the Pancyprian Access Examination, based on his assessed needs, in order to ensure his equal participation in the Pancyprian Access Examination".
In response, the Ministry of Education pointed out that, "according to the Law of 2017 [N.14(I)/2017], '...the table of specifications, the test material and the test essays of the Pancyprian Entrance Examinations must have the same degree of difficulty for all candidates and cannot be differentiated for any candidate or group of candidates...'".
As the Commissioner states , "the matter is before the Minister, Prodromos Prodromos, who will recommend to the State Universities (University of Cyprus and Cyprus University of Technology) to consider the admission of the complainant's son through the procedure of supernumerary places".
It adds that "the ex post facto judgement of those in charge that the law does not cover differentiated writing when a student's needs require it, on the one hand, finds no basis in the law and in UN Convention No.24 which provides for the provision of reasonable adjustments also in Education, but neither in the UN General Comments on the rights of persons with disabilities".
The UN notes that "not providing reasonable adjustments and support to students with disabilities and requiring them to pass a common/standardized test as a condition for securing admission to school constitutes indirect discrimination against them."
"Therefore, and since the fairness and equivalence of the examinations is not affected, the allegations and the refusal to provide accommodation and/or reasonable adjustments through the differentiated test is contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities," the Commissioner said in her report.
Finally, it recommends that the Director of the Directorate of Higher Education and Head of the Examinations Service "proceed to provide both the complainant's son and other children with disabilities with the necessary reasonable adjustments in the context of the National Access Examinations to enable them to be tested in a differentiated examination essay on the basis of their assessed and individualised educational needs".
Source: CNA
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