Yojana
Differently-Abled: Scaling Up Educational Rights and Opportunities
Let us hope and work towards an inclusive education system which keeps the doors fully open for all learners with special needs in an enabling environment. Flexible education system, e-learning facilities, proposed Swayam online learning, inclusive teacher training programme, National Skill Development programme, capacity building of all existing teachers and other measures would make education for ALL a reality in India.
India's population with disabilities has increased by 22.4 per cent between 2001 and 2011. The number of disabled, which was 2.19 crore in 2001, rose in 2011 to 2.68 crore - 1.5 crore males and 1.18 crore females. The growth rate of disabled population is more in urban areas and among urban females. The decadal growth in urban areas is 48.2 per cent and 55 per cent among urban females. Among scheduled castes, it is 2.45 per cent. (Census 2011)
Where do we stand now?
India seems a long way to go to ensure educational rights of children with special needs if we compare the number of persons with disabilities reported in 2011 population census and number of children with special needs studying in primary and secondary schools. There is no data on inclusion of children with special needs in 0-6 age group and in higher education. This is one of the major gaps that exist today for planning purpose.
1. SSA Inclusive education scheme has included 10.71 lakh children with special needs. (Source: Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2013-14)
2. Inclusive education of children with disabilities in Secondary schools-(IEDSS)-around 2 lakhs children with special needs.
3. Around one lakh children with special needs studying in 977 special schools. (An NGO study)
The number of persons with special needs in the age group of 0-29 years who need access to education is 1.23 crores as per 2011 Census data, out of which, 53.4 lakhs are girls and women with special needs. At present, a 'conservative estimate' shows that around 20 lakhs persons with special needs our studying in primary, secondary and special schools. The challenge ahead is how to ensure educational access to the unreached children/persons with special diverse needs.
It is not debatable that we have not been able to reach even 20 per cent of our children/persons with special needs though we have legislations such as Right to Education since 2005 and compulsory and free education to all children guaranteed in the Indian constitution. India has signed many international declarations and treaties concerning rights of persons with disabilities and the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities was signed and ratified by India in 2006. Article 24 of the CRPD refers specifically to education, and creates an obligation for governments to do two things:
1. Provide education to children, youth with disabilities on an equal basis with other children; and
2. Provide that education within an inclusive system.
It could be argued that there are multi dimensional reasons for this abysmal condition though India is very much committed to include every child to have access to education without any discrimination. However, mere commitment is not enough to ensure children with disabilities in general and girls with disabilities in particular to have access to education in a disability friendly, barrier free and accessible built and learning environment. There is a need for conceptual clarity on inclusive education, which must be reflected in the vision, mission, policies, action plans, legal provisions and resource allocations. In the past, we have seen that education of children with special needs was not seen as an integral part of the education system and general education systems were not trained and prepared to make our schools and universities truly inclusive.
NEP: Potential Game Changer
A comprehensive policy on education is basically a path finding effort to translate political will and vision into action. Inclusion of the disadvantaged sections of our society into mainstream education and development is a process, which needs identification and systematic removal of socio-economic-cultural-political-administrative and other barriers on the road to inclusion.
A broader understanding of inclusive education is reflected in NEP-2015.Inclusive education in the Indian context must include the diverse needs of SC/ST/Minorities/Children and young persons with disabilities, children living in extreme poverty and difficult/challenging conditions.
NEP adopts, for the first time in India, an Indian perspective to inclusive education reflecting global concerns and commitments to which India is a participatory /signatory.
The key factors that may exclude children/persons with special needs from the mainstream education can be:-
1. Policies that ignore education for all cannot be achieved unless children and youth with disabilities are included in the mainstream education.
2. The framework for monitoring progress in achieving Education for All ignores children and youth with disabilities.
...mere commitment is not enough to ensure children with disabilities in general and girls with disabilities in particular to have access to education in a disability friendly, barrier free and accessible built and learning environment. There is a need for conceptual clarity on inclusive education, which must be reflected in the vision, mission, policies, action plans, legal provisions and resource allocations.
3. Failure to identify and remove systemic barriers to inclusive education at planning, administration, monitoring and implementation levels.
4. Lack of recognition of the factors that affect inclusive education are within the social gaps that are existing in education of children and youth with disabilities among SC/ST/Minorities /Gender discrepancies within these groups and in general.
5. Disability being a state subject/ PRI subject and education being a concurrent subject is leading to gaps in educational access to children/young persons with disabilities across the different states in India.
6. Education of differently abled children is the responsibility of two ministries. Inclusive education is the responsibility of Human Resource Development Ministry and special education is the responsibility of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. We see the same overlapping roles at the state level. This has resulted in contradicting policies and practices in the education of children with special needs. There is no policy on early childhood inclusion of children with special needs in India. The largest ECCD programme ICDS is yet to include children with special needs by developing Anganwadi centers to function as centers for Inclusive early childhood development.
7. Not recognizing the fact that inclusive education can serve as an entry point to improve the entire existing education system, which benefit all learners has resulted in inclusive education being viewed as an add on component to the education system.
8. Women/girls with disabilities need rehabilitation strategies which are relevant to our socio cultural conditions. We need massive awareness on rights and needs of women with disabilities as they are the worst hit in the modern world which is yet to see and respect women for their inherent worth and not based on images we see in the media and fashion industry.
Data Base on Disability: Is it available?
The answer for the above question is as vague as the existing data on disability. Prevalence of Disability: a) As per Population Census 2001, of the persons with disability (PWD), about 75 per cent belonged to rural areas and only 25 per cent were from urban areas. For the population of the country as a whole, 2.13 per cent were found to have one type of disability or the other. In rural India, the prevalence of disability was much higher (2.21 per cent) as compared to that in its urban counterpart (1.93 per cent). Among males, the prevalence of disability (2.37 per cent) was significantly higher than that among females (1.87 per cent). The prevalence rate among SC population (2.23 per cent) was marginally higher as compared to the general population; while among ST population, it was noticeably lower (1.92 per cent).
From 21.9 million in 2001, it has gone up to 26.8 million in 10 years — 2.13 per cent to 2.21 per cent
The latest Census figures on disabilities have shown only a marginal increase in the number of differently-abled people in the country with the figure rising from 21.9 million in 2001 to 26.8 million in 10 years. In percentage terms, it has risen from 2.13 per cent to 2.21 per cent, as per the Census 2011 figures released by the Registrar General of India.
There are 14.9 million men with disabilities as compared to 11.8 million women in the country with the total number of disabled people over 18 million in the rural areas and just 8.1 million enumerated in the urban settings. The percentage of men with disabilities is 2.41 as against 2.01 in women.
Employment rates of persons with disability vary with geographical location (urban or rural), gender, education, and type of disability. According to 2011 Census of India, 68 per cent of India lives in rural areas. Therefore, in the overall population, the number of disabled is proportionately higher in rural areas, accentuated by general poverty considerations and poor access to health services. The rural disabled are significantly disconnected from skills and markets. Literary levels are low, with the Census of India estimating that 51 per cent of persons with disability are not literate; 26 per cent reach up to the primary level; 6 per cent middle level and only 13 per cent secondary level and above. (ILO study Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. - Bangkok: ILO, 2011)
The existing data on disability covers more than it reveals. It is rather difficult to expect population census which is a massive exercise to provide necessary data on disability as identification of disabilities needs skills especially to identify special needs (intellectual, sensory disabilities of mild and moderate levels, which are not easily visible unless persons are trained in the identification.
India must introduce mandatory registration of persons with disabilities at community level/ school level/ICDS levels. It could be achieved by introducing village disability registers, school special needs registers, ward level disability registers and issue add on card to Aadhaar card /ration cards. This digitized data could be used to provide smart ID cards replacing existing paper based disability ID cards.
In India, we need disability data for planning services leading to effective inclusion. This demands innovative approaches as survey methodology cannot provide comprehensive information about individuals with special needs. We need information on disability, socio-economic-educational-employment profiles, and diverse needs of each person (rehabilitation needs, employment, skill development, education etc) to plan services leading to effective inclusion at the community level without disintegrating children with special needs away from their families.
India must introduce mandatory registration of persons with disabilities at community level/school level/ ICDS levels. It could be achieved by introducing village disability registers, school special needs registers, ward level disability registers and issue add on card to Aadhaar card /ration cards. This digitized data could be used to provide smart ID cards replacing existing paper based disability ID cards.
CBR programmes in India already use a system of Village disability registers to provide community based inclusive services.
The other issues which are seen as a major barrier for inclusion are listed below:
1. Children with disabilities remain invisible to the education system;
2. Families are not supportive;
3. Teachers lack training, leadership, knowledge and support to adapt curriculum;
4. Poor quality education;
5. Poor access to knowledge and information for-parents, teachers, administrators and policy makers
6. No inclusive education infrastructure - governance, policy, planning, financing, implementation and monitoring
7. Lack of public support for inclusion; and
8. Lack of accountability and monitoring mechanisms.
On the whole, it could be argued that the political vacuum of leadership and accountability for inclusive education was not adequate. There are huge gaps in educational rights of persons with special needs.
NEP 2015: Bridging the Social Gaps
NEP 2015 has adopted bottom-top approach, which opens debates/ discussions, participation of the community. This is a unique feature of NEP-2015 and the participatory approach was essential for the policy makers to understand the concerns of the community and ground realities and reflect these issues adequately in the policy framework. NEP 2015 on inclusive education makes this attempt successfully. We see conceptual clarity of inclusive education stated very clearly in the framework. For example, in place of seeing inclusive education as a separate strategy for children with special needs, NEP 2015 views inclusive education as an integral part of the education system, identifying the broad understanding of diverse needs of children/young persons with disabilities from primary education to higher education. NEP 2015 sees that every teacher must be capable of meeting the diverse needs of learners. NEP 2015 understands the need to train the education administration at all levels to have a positive attitude towards inclusion of persons with special needs.
During online debates on NEP 2015, the need for strengthening the schools with adequate support like E-learning, ICT, training of all teachers to address the special/ diverse needs was raised by persons with disabilities, families and NGOs working in disability sector. The urban -rural divide in reaching the unreached children/youth with disabilities was identified as a key challenge during these debates.
NEP-2015 has included disability concerns in all components of the education system-be it in education admission, admission policies, teacher training, curriculum development, teaching strategies, learning materials, evaluation system, virtual learning platforms, etc.
NEP 2015 has adopted an educational view to inclusive education in place of disability view. NEP 2015 supports to move away from labeling and isolation of children with disabilities in segregated environments. It aligns the inclusive vision and goals with specific, observable, measurable and achievable steps towards ensuring that every child has the right to education in an enabling and caring environment which does not discriminate the child based on disability and gender. NEP-2015 has tremendous potential to be a major game changer when it gets implemented at the grass root level.
Let us hope and work towards an inclusive education system which keeps the doors fully open for all learners with special needs in an enabling environment. Flexible education system, e-learning facilities, proposed Swayam online learning, inclusive teacher training programme, National Skill Development programme, capacity building of all existing teachers and other measures would make education for ALL a reality in India.
Readings
1) Helander, E. (1993) Prejudice and Dignity. UNDP, N.Y.
2) The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality, Salamanca, Spain, 7-10 June 1994. UNESCO and Ministry of Education and Science, Spain 1994,
3) Jonsson, T. (1995) Inclusive Education. UNDP, Geneva
4) WCEFA. (1990) World Declaration on Education for All, Inter-Agency Commission for the World Conference on Education for All, 1990,
5) Gloria Burrett, MitaNundy. (1994) Convention on the Rights of the Child, The Disabled Child
6) Lindqvist, B. (1994) Special Needs Education: Conceptual Framework, Planning and Policy Factors. Paper presented at the World Conference on Special Needs Education, Salamanca, Spain (From: NU News on Health Care in Developing Countries 2/95,vol.9)
7) Ture Johnsson, (2003) Inclusive education CD developed for CBR Network's distance education programme
8) Rao Indumati, From Panchayat parliament, (2000), CBR NETWORK
9) Rao Indumathi, (2002) Country status on inclusive education/special needs documentation good practices, UNICEF, Regional Office
10)Rao Indumathi et al (2000)Moving Away from Lables -A classroom for All learners, CBR NETWORK, Bangalore
11)Portage to Every Village- 1998 –CBR NETWORK, Bangalore
12)Rao Indumathi, (2001),Understanding inclusive education from heart, EENET newsletters and web publication
13)Mani MNG (2000) Inclusive education, Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Coimbatore,
PM launches "Stand Up India" Initiative
The "Stand Up India" initiative to boost entrepreneurship among Dalits, Adivasis and Women was launched by the Prime Minister in Noida on 5th April 2016. The initiative aims to boost entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Women. The initiative envisages loans to at least two aspiring entrepreneurs from these categories. The loan shall be in the ten lakh to one crore rupee range. 5100 e-rickshaws were also distributed on the occasion.
