A protest over the education ministry’s decision to refer two children with disabilities to a special education unit was staged on Monday outside the ministry.

Calling the ministry’s decision “exclusionary and discriminative,” the demonstration was organised by the Angalia Elpidas (Embrace of Hope) association, the Pancyprian organisation of the blind, and the association for children with ADHD and others.

Participants held up banners that read ‘Disability is not weakness. But indifference is,’ ‘No to exclusion’ and ‘Inclusion is a right not a privilege.’

The protestors opposed the decision by the Limassol special education committee, approved by the central special education committee, to transfer two children with disabilities to a special education unit, highlighting concerns about the continued exclusion of children with disabilities from education.

“The two children experience incredible racism, and I will not allow them to feel this way again,” said their mother Elpida.

At the same time, Angalia Elpidas president Giola Pitsiali, who is herself the mother of a child with a disability, said that exclusion is “a political and social issue.”

“Children should not be sent for evaluation”, she added. “The issue is not the child, but it is a matter of mentality and how we perceive disability.”