Report Says Enrolment of
Disabled Children in Govt. Schools Under 1%
Micro
study of RTE Act in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha schools shows exclusion of
disabled children
Taking stock at the
end of the third year of the implementation of the Right To Education (RTE)
Act, a micro study carried out in the three states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and
Odisha on inclusion of children with disabilities in the government school
system reveals that their enrolment in relation to all children continues to be
less than one per cent.
The study found that
though in all three states the administrative procedures were increasingly
following the letter of the law under the Act, children with disabilities were
still not being accepted into the system, clearly not making inclusion a goal
post.
The report pointed
out that children with disabilities still constituted one of the biggest groups
of drop outs and out-of-school children. Often their admission was being
stalled and the ‘push out’ factor was primarily the attitude of school
authorities. “The lack of specialist teachers, rehabilitation facilities and
personnel with the school system are adding to the feeling among schools that
they do not know how to teach children with disabilities,” said the report.
It found that in
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, though entitled, many children with disabilities were
not given transport to access school. In Odisha, out of the 50 school going
children studied, only 10 were provided an escort allowance which encouraged
them to take the child to school. However, parents of children who were under
the home-based education programme complained that teachers did not show up at
their homes.
In all three states,
most often children were not admitted to school due to their disability
contrary to the provisions of the Act. In some schools the admission was
subject to a family member accompanying the child and sitting in the school all
day. Parents interviewed for the study gave several reasons why their children
had to drop out including poverty, lack of facilities for special children and
inadequate care in the schools.
The report points out
that though the RTE Act includes the right of children with disabilities to
free and compulsory elementary education and India ratified the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities where the state is mandated to
ensure inclusive education, the micro study indicates “trends that call for the
attention of policy makers, organisations, educationists and activists.”
The study was carried
out by National RTE forum member Aarth-Astha in Delhi along with Sparc-India
from Uttar Pradesh and Aaina from Odisha, taking a detailed sample of 50
children from each State to look at the reality at the grassroots.
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