The Department of Education has been criticised over the decision to exclude second-level students with Down Syndrome from the summer education programme aimed at supporting children with disabilities.
While primary school children with Down Syndrome are eligible to apply for this year's 'July provision' programme, older students are not.
An organisation representing people with Down Syndrome and their families accused the Education Minister, Joe McHugh, and his Department of discrimination.
Down Syndrome Ireland said that an announcement at the start of this month by Mr McHugh, that children with Down Syndrome would be included this year, was greatly welcomed by parents around the country.
However the organisation said it was "completely blindsided" when it emerged last Friday that only primary school children with the condition were included.
DSI says the department's draft Guidelines on Summer Provision outline that the scheme is not open to the majority of post-primary school students, nor to students transitioning from preschool into mainstream primary schools.
"Despite the lip service paid to promoting an inclusive education system", it said, "those children heading to mainstream primary school will be penalised rather than supported, as will those in mainstream post-primary".
Interim CEO Deirdre Saul says this has caused "untold stress" to parents of children with Down Syndrome.
"There seems to be a complete disconnect between the Minister and Department officials, and it is students with Down Syndrome who are caught in the middle. It's shocking and deeply distressing", she said.
The July provision programme provides additional teaching and learning to a number of categories of children with special educational needs, typically spread out over two weeks. It can be school- or home-based and is designed to provide continuity of learning over the summer months.
The programme is regarded as all the more important this year, given that students have been out of school for an extended period.
"Restricting the scheme to exclude some students with Down Syndrome is a form of discrimination that is impossible to understand, particularly given the disruption to education this year," Ms Saul said.
DSI has called on the current eligibility criteria for this year's programme to be reviewed and amended "with immediate effect".
