The National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) is investigating a potential violation of rights following a fire at the Ann Sullivan School in Valdivia.

The National Institute of Human Rights (INDH) is investigating a potential violation of rights at the Ann Sullivan School in Valdivia. The school community has been operating in two classrooms for three years following a fire that affected its facilities. On March 21, 2023, Valdivia woke up to the sound of fire truck sirens.

The fire affected the premises of the Ann Sullivan School, which serves students with visual disabilities and is the only one of its kind from Concepción southward. The incident caused damage to part of the facility and prevented classes from resuming normally. Since then, the educational community has been temporarily relocated to the Walter Schmidt School, where two classrooms were provided while authorities were supposed to seek a permanent solution.

Three years after the fire, the situation remains virtually unchanged. Students and staff continue to carry out their activities in those same two classrooms, which even had to be subdivided to adapt to the available space. When consulted by Radio Bío Bío, the regional head of the National Institute of Human Rights, Constanza Montt, stated that they were not formally aware of the case, but after learning about it through the radio, they began to gather initial information, starting a preliminary assessment, requesting official information, and verifying on-site the conditions in which the school currently operates.

However, she warned that there could preliminarily be a violation of the right to education, inclusion, and reasonable adjustments required by students with disabilities and special educational needs. The case is particularly significant because Chile ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 and must report on progress in this area to international bodies this year. Montt noted that situations like the one faced by the educational community of the Ann Sullivan School can become concrete examples of how the norms and commitments assumed by the state do not always translate into effective inclusion.

The representative of the National Institute of Human Rights in Los Ríos emphasized that inclusion involves not only people with disabilities but also society as a whole. Therefore, she warned that maintaining such situations ultimately affects not only a particularly vulnerable educational community but also collective development and the state's obligation to guarantee fundamental rights.