The pupils of a 7th grade class from a school in Pitesti will have their conduct marks fined down after they had protested three days in a row, refusing to attend courses, against a colleague suffering from Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, who would threaten and aggress them.
The pupils, together with their parents, protested in the school lobby, displaying messages against the allegedly aggressive boy, asking to be left to study and that the boy should be transferred to another school.
The 7th grade children argue the boy is physically and verbally aggressing them and even threatening them with death.
The protest seems to be halted for the moment, the pupils started to attend classes, while the contested boy has got medical exemption until he is clinically reviewed in Bucharest.
The school inspector in Arges, Dumitru Tudosoiu, said that following protest, the pupils have truancies and they will have their conduct grades fined down.
“We understood the warning of the parents and we acted accordingly and by all legal means. Parents must understand though that there is also a matter of truancies and lower conduct grades. The protest had no legal ground and messed up the class and the school’s activityb. All 29 children who have been affected by this incident need counseling, for they have been protesting against one of their colleague, I don’t know if this is good at their age, there are efforts to be made together, school and family altogether,” said the inspector.
At the same time, the inspector says that he hopes that following the results of the medical check on the boy with ADHD his parents will agree to direct the boy to a special education unit or to home schooling.
“We are making efforts to integrate the child and respect his rights, but also to respect the rights of the other children in the classroom. I think the main decision making factor in this case is the kid’s family (…),” the inspector added.
Students ask for the reinsertion of the boy with ADHD
The National Union of the Students in Romania (UNSR) asked the parents and the pupils of the 7th grade class from the “I.L. Caragiale” School in Pitesti to stop the protest and allow the child with disabilities to attend courses.
The UNSR released a press statement, arguing that according to the equality of chances principle, all young people with disablities have the right to study and to be equally treated, both by the public authorities and by the other citizens.
Criminal complaint filed against protesters
The European Centre for the Rights of Children with Disabilities on Friday filed a criminal complaint for blackmail, incitement to hate or discrimination against four parents who would have instigated their children to protest against the ADHD schoolboy.
“The crime of incitement to hate and discrimination against a pupil with disabilities, dubbed by propagation of intolerance, humiliation, hate and denigration messages in the public space represents an attack against the dignity right of the minor here referred, but also against the entire category of the disabled children in Romania. Those charged with such deed must be criminally investigated,” says the CEDCD head, Madalina Turza.