“There is so much talk about inclusion, and it’s a lie. How is a person supposed to live and work in this situation? This is not inclusion,” stated Ana Vanessa Antunes, the mother of two children, expressing that the issue remains unresolved.
Her children, aged five and seven, both with low vision, attend the Almedina Kindergarten and the Almedina Primary School respectively, part of the Coimbra Centro School Group (a reference institution for children with low vision and blindness).
“The access to schools is not ideal, and the school year began without transportation assured,” the mother, who also has low vision, complained.
After contacting the school group, she was informed that no one applied for the route.
“They should increase the payment, as they are subjecting the children,” she criticized.
Since the school year started, Ana Vanessa Antunes has been taking her children to school using Coimbra’s public urban transport network, though with difficulty and delays.
“The other day, they started school at 10:00, and we left home at 08:30. I can’t subject my children to missing school, but I won’t be able to continue this way,” she said.
In the previous school year, when the family lived outside the municipality, “there was no problem” getting special transportation, only experiencing difficulties this year, she noted.
In response, Coimbra’s councilor for Education, Ana Cortez Vaz, recalled that the municipality delegated the responsibility of arranging special transportation to the school groups and non-grouped schools.
“The explanation from the Coimbra Centro School Group is that the route was put up for bidding and received no proposals. We also know that the school administration will meet with a cab driver and the guardian to discuss this,” she said.
The councilor admitted that “finding someone to cover these routes is not always easy.”
“We hope everything will be resolved as soon as possible,” she stressed, ensuring that the payment amount for special transportation is not an issue.
“So far, that hasn’t been a problem,” she added, noting that the municipality is unaware of any other cases.
