Senator: Give more resources to challenged students

THE Government must do more to help students who have needs beyond the ordinary, urges Independent Senator Paul Richards in his private motion listed for debate on Tuesday in the Senate.

Richards is urging the Education Ministry to promptly launch a full strategy to help all children with "disabilities, additional learning needs and/or challenging behaviours."

He says while the Education Act says the ministry must provide special schools suited to the needs of students with physical and learning disabilities, the ministry had allegedly failed to give these students the requisite support networks and equal opportunities needed to achieve their full potential.

Saying inadequate funding, policies and specialist staff result in poor performance by students, Richards’ motion urges the Government to allocate adequate funding, to reform legislation and to revise policies so as to ensure that all special needs students get educational opportunities equal to those for others.