Back to School. A school for deaf children near Toulouse victim of its success?
Near Toulouse, parents of deaf children are mobilizing after the refusal of their children at the school of Ramonville-Saint-Agne. The town known for its Teaching Center for Deaf Youth is a victim of its own success and can no longer accommodate more students. Pupils are now redirected to the Rangueil school.
Between two appointments with the town hall of Ramonville and the rectorate of Toulouse, this mother does not take off. “Everyone passes the buck and no one is able to inform us correctly”, she laments. His daughter Elisa, must return to class of CM2. Elisa is deaf, and her mother moved from Lille this summer to ensure the best possible education for her. “I wanted to offer my child a course in sign language throughout his schooling”she says.
With a friend, also the mother of a deaf child, they decide together to leave the North for Ramonville, one of the rare towns to offer a class in sign language, from kindergarten to primary school. “We came to visit the school in February, and in June we were informed that Elisa was on the waiting list because we did not have an address in Ramonville”remembers Clémence Couture, Elisa’s mother. “But I moved to Ramonville in the summer, and I even found a job there. Finally, in July, we learned that there was no more room for my daughter.
According to APES 31, the Association of Parents of Deaf Children of Haute-Garonne, 4 families and 6 children would find themselves in the same situation.
The schools of Ramonville (nursery and elementary) are the only ones in the entire rectorate of Toulouse to offer bilingual classes. Deaf children are integrated into a “classic” school but follow their course together, in sign language, until the baccalaureate. “There are only a few towns in France that offer these PEJS, these Pôles d’Enseignement des Jeunes Sourds”testifies Etienne Barthélémy, the secretary of the APES 31. “For several years now, the number of children wanting to join this center has continued to increase, parents from all over France. The city wanted to limit this number and it is our children who pay the price.
Welcoming all the children to Ramonville, because the parents ask for it, would not be good, neither for their safety nor for their educational level.
Mostafa Fourar, rector of the Toulouse Academy
Faced with this constant influx, the town hall of Ramonville signed an agreement with the rectorate, limiting to 56 the number of deaf children welcomed in the two schools (nursery and elementary). “Originally, this teaching center was only supposed to accommodate 36 students”tempers Christophe Lubac, the mayor of Ramonville-Saint-Agne. “Faced with the influx of requests, we have increased our reception capacity to 56 places but we cannot go beyond. The center already includes a third of the students, we do not want to transform ourselves into a specialized establishment, but work well on the inclusion of deaf children, which is only possible by maintaining a certain balance.”
A position shared by the rectorate. “We are facing an inflation of requests this year”, reacts Mostafa Fourar, the rector of the Toulouse academy. “But we must limit our reception capacity in order to welcome these children in the best conditions.”
A situation that the families of these children refuse for whom school is the best option. “We have no other solution that is equivalent in the region”, Etienne Barthélémy is indignant. “Schooling in a traditional class with an interpreter is very difficult for a child to follow and sending him to a medico-social establishment is not adequate, they do not need care but to follow lessons in their language .”
Like Clémence Couture, many parents leave their families and their jobs and cross France to benefit from this unique system. Some families even come from other European countries. “The real problem is that the other academies were not of PEJS (Pôles d’Enseignement des Jeunes Sourds), but we cannot accommodate all of France”, deplores the mayor of Ramonville-Saint-Agne. “I have been fighting for many years to develop this device in other schools.”
Faced with this situation, the rectorate decided to implement an LSF (French Sign Language) device within the school of Rangueil (a neighboring town). “This device is integrated, in particular, around a teacher holding a diploma in LSF and 2 AESH mastering the LSF “said the rector.
But this does not satisfy the families concerned for whom this solution is not equivalent to the system set up in Ramonville. They also deplore a break-up of their siblings. While their deaf children are sent to Rangueil, their brothers and sisters are welcomed at the school in Ramonville.
The parents of these students as well as the APES 31 are mobilizing against this situation. The appointment is given this Thursday, September 1 in front of the town hall of Ramonville at 8:45 am.