Inclusive education, the great “priority” of national education, resonates for some families like an empty word. Paul, a final year student from the Stéphane Hessel high school in Toulouse, who has been suffering from autistic disorders since birth, is still without a post-baccalaureate solution for the start of the school year in September.

He has just had his baccalaureate with honors “quite well” – he obtained a general average of 13.80 – and had applied on Parcoursup for a BTS communication in the Toulouse high school where he followed all his schooling.

Logically. But the platform’s algorithm, for some reason that escapes Paul’s family, did not accept his candidacy. At best, Parcoursup offers him a school in Besançon (Doubs) without taking into consideration the fact that the student, who will be 18 years old next September, is “not independent”.

“An incomprehensible algorithm”

“Paul followed all his schooling with accompanying persons for students with disabilities (AESH), all his referents were great until high school and after, nothing more, explains his mother Céline Girod. With Parcoursup, we do not know if Stéphane Hessel is refused because of his grades or if students from all over France had a place in BTS in Toulouse before him. There is no priority with the school card. The Parcoursup algorithm is incomprehensible”.

Paul’s parents are currently moving heaven and earth so that he can continue his higher education not far from home, due to his disability. His mother has an appointment today at the information and orientation center (CIO), but she still doubts that her son can be admitted to Stéphane Hessel in BTS. Yet it is his dearest wish (read our edition of July 1).

“It’s worth fighting for”

According to the academic secretary of the Snes-FSU, also a mathematics teacher at the Stéphane Hessel Pierre Priouret high school, “the establishment has absolutely no control over the Parcoursup algorithm”.

Only the rectorate’s commission for access to higher education can decide Paul’s case. In an email sent to the student’s mother, the latter ensures that the “request for support due to your health situation, disability, has been taken into account”.

For Céline Girod, moreover, obtaining the baccalaureate by her son is already a victory. “This is the message I want to send to parents of students with disabilities, she says, to go all the way. It’s worth fighting for.”