Brussels, 31/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - More attention should be paid to the education of young people with disabilities and those who come from deprived backgrounds. This was the message underlined by participants at a public hearing organised last week in Brussels by the European Parliament's education and culture committee. In conclusion, participants called for youth motivation measures from the earliest age possible and for the question of segregation of young students from deprived backgrounds to be tackled right now.
The president of the parliamentary committee, Doris Pack (EPP, Germany), underlined the importance of continuing to fund the post-2013 Comenius programme, to improve teacher training for those who teach young people with disabilities or disadvantages, and to include non-formal education as part of the Europass information initiative. Mary Honeyball (PES, United Kingdom), rapporteur on early school leavers, underlined the need to allocate sufficient resources to the education of children from disadvantaged backgrounds and the need to fight against the segregation of young students. Malika Benarab-Attou (Greens/EFA) alluded to her own personal experience to highlight the advantages of young people growing up in a multicultural educational environment. Santiago Fisas (EPP, Spain) said that sport was an excellent tool for integrating young people from poor backgrounds. Although education is within the remit of the national authorities, European programmes can bring a significant contribution to tackling current challenges, emphasised Adam Pokorny from DG Education at the European Commission. He made a specific reference to the European target to reduce the number of pupils abandoning their education early: “We cannot afford to waste this young talent”. According to Pokorny, if they fail to take into account the problem now, it will only get worse later on. (I.L./transl.fl)