"We're failing these children." Students with special needs expect a school year without "effective inclusion"

“They told me that Dinis couldn't do these activities, that he couldn't be included, because they wouldn't have enough resources to hire more monitors to ensure Dinis's safety.”

The tug-of-war continued "all year long," a situation that had a major impact on the child: "This started to cause him a lot of anger . He became very frustrated and cried a lot every day. And then he started to realize he was being excluded from all these activities he loved most."

Dânia publicly reported the case in 2022 and claims to have suffered bullying from other parents.

"Brutal" discrimination between municipalities

For Lourenço Santos, of the Movement for Effective Inclusion (MIE), Dânia's case is just one example among many that demonstrate that the Portuguese education system "is not prepared to achieve effective inclusion." He anticipates this situation will not change in the new 2025/26 school year.

"When Dinis arrives at school, his classmates immediately go to him, hug him, call him," says Dânia Martins.

One of the most serious situations, he argues, is the "brutal discrimination" between different municipalities: "Each municipality does a little bit as it sees fit and allocates more or less resources. And so there's discrimination here, even between councils and sometimes between neighboring municipalities." Something the law doesn't allow: "There can't be discrimination based on the place where the child was born," emphasizes Lourenço Santos.

The story of little Dinis, now in the fourth year of elementary school, illustrates these inequalities sustained by geography. In 2023, he returned to live in Covilhã with his father. A "very difficult" move, explains Dânia, made to provide the child with the educational conditions lacking in the Lisbon region.

At Teixoso, everything changed because he found an "inclusive school." "Dinis loves it. He loves going to school, he loves his classmates. When he gets to school, his classmates immediately come up to him, hug him, and call out to him."

Unlike before, "he does all the activities, including horseback riding, swimming, adapted snow sports, adapted bocce, adapted roller sports. He has many activities geared towards children with special needs."