Special needs - Educational apartheid is intolerable

The very notion that some schools are engaged in a form of apartheid towards children with special needs is so contemptible as to be intolerable.

Yet, it is a practice which is not alone prevalent throughout the country, but condoned by the Department of Education.

That is the only interpretation to be taken, as Education Minister Mary Hanafin has previously acknowledged that schools do contrive to prevent special needs students from enrolling but has ruled out taking any sanctions against them.