The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has made public a report titled ‘State of the Education Report for India 2019: Children with Disabilities’. This document reveals that three out of four five-year-old children with disabilities along with more than one-quarter (27%) of disabled children between five to nineteen years old in India are not enrolled in any form of educational institution. This finding aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal-4 objective to provide “inclusive and quality education” and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Key Findings
In India, over 78 lakh children aged between 5-19 years live with some form of disability. Only 61% of these children are attending an educational institution. Approximately 12% had dropped out and 27% had never been to school at all. A gender discrepancy also exists, fewer girls with disabilities attend schools than boys. UNESCO reports indicate that 45% of India’s 8 million disabled children do not attain literacy, a grim statistic considering that globally, 15% of people are disabled.
| Type of Disability | Percentage of Children Never in School |
|---|---|
| Visual and hearing impairments | 20% |
| Multiple disabilities, mental illnesses, and mental retardation | Over 50% |
National Institute of Open Schooling
Many disabled children do not attend regular schools, instead opting for enrollment at the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). NIOS was established as an “Open School” to cater to a diverse group of learners until the pre-degree level. This initiative began as a project undertaken by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) with the aim to expand open learning facilities across the country.
Challenges
Despite the Right to Education Act mandating enrollment, it does not guarantee provision of resources needed for actual education of a child with disabilities. In rural areas especially, opting for home-based education often results in children receiving no education at all. Furthermore, ambiguities exist in laws relating to the right to education and disabilities, particularly concerning where and how children with disabilities receive their education and what standards and norms are applicable to educational institutions.
The absence of accessible physical infrastructure, assistive technologies, and adequate communication technology only worsens the school dropout situation among disabled children. Inadequate fund allocation, delays in fund release, and underutilization of allocated funds further hamper the provision of education for children with disabilities.
Recommendations
Key recommendations from the report include amendments to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), for alignment with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Structural, funding and attitudinal changes are necessary to ensure that no child is left out of the right to education. Concentrated campaigns and large scale awareness drives are crucial to improve societal attitude towards children with disabilities in classrooms and beyond. The report also calls for a comprehensive transformation of teaching practices to facilitate inclusion of diverse learners. Lastly, it recommends establishing a coordinating mechanism under the Ministry of Human Resource Development for effective convergence of all educational programs targeting children with disabilities.