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Students with down syndrome face stigma, struggle to find inclusive schools
Some private schools offer inclusive education, yet the school fees are much higher than that of state schools.
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Parents of children with down syndrome struggle to find inclusive schools without facing stigma and discrimination. (Shutterstock/File)
Finding a school for children with down syndrome is not easy.
That is something Rainy Mawarwati, 47, has learned while looking for a state elementary school for her son Aurel Amadeo to attend.
She wanted to enroll Aurel at a regular school instead of a special needs school because she wanted him to grow independently.
Rainy had applied to 14 private elementary schools but all of them rejected him because of his down syndrome.
“The reasons varied. They mostly said they could not take care of kids with down syndrome. They didn’t have the teachers,” Rainy said in Bandung, West Java, recently.
“What hurt me the most was that they said they had already accepted such a student [with down syndrome].”
Hopes were raised when some schools said they could accept Aurel, but yet another challenge emerged when the schools required him to pass an entrance exam. This was an issue for Rainy as children with down syndrome generally have problems with their intellectuality.
