Disabled children: the scandal of forgotten school in France

Thousands of children without space at school

Every school year highlights the same observation: between 80,000 and 100,000 children with disabilities In France it has no access to an adequate school. In detail, some have no space in a school, others have only a limited reception a few hours a week, when it is not an orientation towards a structure unsuitable for their needs.

Unpera denounces a “unworthy of a country that is said to be inclusive”: “How to accept that children are still deprived of this fundamental right that is education?”, The association is found in its 2025 report.

AESH: essential but in favor

At the center of the problem, AESH (accompanying students with disabilities)whose role is essential to allow the child to follow the class. But their contracts in time, often paid around the minimum salary, lead to a huge turnover. As a result, children change by accompanying several times a year, when they find one.

According to the unions, Almost 60 % of the support needs are not covered At the beginning of the school year. “My son was entitled to 6 hours of support per week instead of 18 hours scheduled by the MDPH”, says a mother on the platform of Marrentrée.org who collected the experiences of the families interested in the Hastag #jaipasecole.

Families forced to abandon

For many parents, the beginning of the school year rhymes anxiously. On the participatory website Marentree.orgTestimonies.

A mother says:

I had to stop working to take care of my daughter, due to the lack of a school ready to welcome her.

Another family explains that they had to record their child in a school 45 kilometers from home, due to lack of local solution.

These are Mainly mothers who give up their usefor lack of adequate care. This lateral laburist market leads to Direct pre -host of families : loss of income, economic dependence on the spouse, difficulty finding a job later. For some single parents parents, it is even rocking for poverty.

Unpera recalls that this exclusion of the school is not only an immediate injustice, but also a break Those who compromise the future of these children: no learning, no socialization, an increased risk of isolation.

The promise not held by the inclusive school

The 2005 law guaranteed that the law for each disabled child was educated. Twenty years later, the observation is bitter: France remains late compared to other European countries. If the number of disabled students has been welcomed has increased (almost 470,000 in 2024, according to the Ministry), this increase hides a fragmented reality in which many students are welcomed in minimal conditions.

“We are told that there is no AESH available, that the class is not suitable … but it is not for families to bring this weight alone”

A collective activist #jaipasecole.

Call an emergency plan

Associations require an ambitious policy, with a Massive AESH recruitmentBest teachers’ training and a system reorganization to avoid breaks. They also discuss for a true Consultation with familieswho are the first experts in the situation of their children.

Otherwise, each start will continue to be marked by the same figures, by the same testimonies and by the same children left by the way.