Disability commission goes to court over students' medication

The National Commission for Persons with a Disability yesterday filed a judicial protest against the Education Division over the administration of medicine to students with a disability in government schools.

In the protest, filed in the First Hall of the Civil Court, the commission said that in March 2002 it had started talks with the authorities to find a solution to the problem and to draft a clear policy that would regulate the matter.

During the meetings the Education Ministry had set up a working group to draft a list of recommendations to tackle the problem. Over a year ago, the working group sent its recommendations to the competent authorities but nothing was ever done to solve the issue. This meant that, to date, students with a disability were not being given the necessary medication while at school and this was detrimental to their health and their education.

The only alternative was that their parents would have to go to school every day to administer the medication and this was causing great inconvenience.

The inaction by the authorities on the matter was leading to a discriminatory situation against students with a disability and this was in breach of the Equal Opportunities Act.

The commission called on the authorities to find a solution to the problem without further delay.