A student with severe visual impairment was not shown to have been discriminated against during a University of Cyprus teaching placement, although the human rights commissioner on Tuesday said there was uncertainty over whether she was allowed to receive the necessary support.

The student was completing a programme for pre-school teachers and was accompanied on the placement by a person to help her due to her visual impairment.

The complainant said university supervisors stopped her companion from assisting her during lessons.

She argued that the assistance she was allowed to receive was not properly adapted to her disability and this made it markedly more difficult for her to complete the placement and ultimately affected her final grade.

Human Rights Commissioner Maria Stylianou-Lottides investigated the complaint and examined 24 assessment forms which criticised the student’s knowledge of lesson content, preparation, lesson planning, feedback to children and time management.

They did not, however, mention the occasions when her companion had tried to help and was stopped by supervisors.

Thus, the commissioner could not establish whether those incidents had affected the student’s marks.

The investigation also produced conflicting accounts of what happened.

Two university supervisors said they had stopped the companion because they believed she was doing more than she was allowed to do as a support person.

The mentor at the Tseri public preschool gave a different account, saying that no supervisor had intervened and that the placement had proceeded normally.

The commissioner also found that the mentor had failed to mention that two children in the classroom had disabilities and were accompanied by support persons.

The mentor had graded the student but could not recall the mark she had given her.

There was also disagreement over whether the student had told supervisors that her disability was making some activities difficult.

Lottides said the evidence was inconclusive, although the student had asked for more time to complete lessons, supporting her account that she had raised difficulties.

Despite the conflicting evidence, the commissioner said there was no way to establish that the student’s final assessment would have been different if her companion had been allowed to provide more assistance.

She therefore found that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the student had been discriminated against because of her disability.

However, Lottides recommended that the university take greater account of the student’s practical difficulties if she repeats the placement and consider reassessing her grades where possible.

She also called for compulsory training for university supervisors and preschool mentors on disability rights and the individual support that students with disabilities may require.