Children with disabilities in Northern Ireland are seeing their human rights breached by being denied education.
That’s the view of Rachel Hogan, a specialist legal advisor at the Children’s Law Centre (CLC) in Belfast.
Legal specialist Rachel Hogan says disabled children are seeing their human rights breached by missing out on education
Hogan’s comments came after a BBC report suggested school-based anxiety had grown to epidemic proportions in Northern Ireland.
85,000 children affected
Official figures show 85,000 children in the province have missed more than 10 per cent of their education this academic year for a variety of reasons.
Hogan said the CLC has already shown through court action that the province’s Education Authority (EA) is breaching the Human Rights Act 1988 when children are denied education because of their disability.
‘Questions to answer’
In an email, she said that the breaches “continue”. She added that the EA has questions to answer about reaching “even minimum standards of legal compliance with human rights and equality obligations”.
Omagh-based mental health consultant Bronagh Starrs told the BBC that many of the children are academically bright. However, they struggled with “catastrophic” levels of fear about school.
Starrs said children struggled with the return to school after the pandemic. She said the problem is now “off the Richter scale”.
Variety of causes
Anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and bullying have been mentioned as among the causes.
More than 4,000 of the children with the highest rates of absenteeism are said to be getting specialist help.
But the problem of post-pandemic absenteeism is not restricted to Northern Ireland.
Data for England also shows rates of absenteeism since the pandemic rose from 4.7 per cent in 2018/19 to 7.1 per cent in 2023/24. However, the absenteeism rate in England is now falling.
Autism Eye asked the DoE for a comment, but it did not respond.
Related:
- N Ireland services fail ‘miserably’
- Expert slams N Ireland special education
- Education authority ‘breaks law’
- Families left waiting for SEN statement
- Northern Ireland funding ‘not enough’
- Commissioner slams support in N Ireland
- N Ireland schools ‘almost in crisis’
- Call for autism schools in N Ireland
- Radical N Ireland school plans blasted
- N Ireland pay hikes at top despite cuts
- Parents take action over N Ireland cuts
- Cuts hit ‘crucial help’ in N Ireland
- Parents defy dire services in N Ireland
- Huge increase in diagnosis in N Ireland
Published: 18 June 2025
