How to Guarantee the Opportunity to Attend School for Children Requiring Constant Medical Care

Abstract

　　Children requiring constant medical care are those who need medical support such as ventilator or gastrostomy even after discharge. Along with advances in medical technology, the number of children requiring constant medical care is increasing annually, but the support for their school attendance has not progressed accordingly. Many of these children have no mental and physical impairments other than requiring 24-hour medical care, which does not interfere with everyday life. Therefore, depriving them of opportunities to receive education according to their conditions is a grave infringement of their basic human right. This study aimed to examine the factors that impede the school attendance of children requiring constant medical care. The research considered the current legal and institutional situation, in which laws that should support children requiring constant medical care give educational institutions an excuse for refusing their acceptance. Moreover, referring to the decades of serious efforts for inclusive education in the UK and U.S., we pointed out that in Japan, there is a tendency to regard the establishment of the law as the goal, as well as the lack of attitude to strive to approach the ideal by constantly correcting inadequacies in the law. Finally, we proposed the needed policies to guarantee the right to receive education for all children requiring constant medical care.