The Delhi High Court has directed the government to appoint special educators for disabled children attending more than 3,000 schools run the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).
A Division Bench of Chief Justice and Justice acted on the P.I.L. (Public interest litigation) filed by an N.G.O. complaining about the lack of efforts by the government to bring disabled children to mainstream education.
According to 2004 report of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People put out a report titled ‘Research Study on Present Education Scenario’. Only 0.1% of disabled students were in mainstream educational institutions at the university level, and 0.51% at the school level.
“Government Schools are turning away children with disabilities stating simple reasons to their parents that the schools do not have facilities for disabled children. The teachers should be specially trained and should preferably be Bachelors in Special Education. The government has also been instructed to provide them with all adequate equipments”, said Adish Aggarwala, Senior Advocate, Supreme court.

The High Court directive sound good, but there are serious limitations. There is only one educational institution in the capital that is Lady Irwin College, which provides Bachelors in Special Education. It produces only 27 graduates every year. How are they going to cater to the needs of 3000 schools which need a minimum of two teachers per school?

“In this profession there are both factors- a well paid settled job with satisfaction and peace of doing something worthwhile for society”, said, Pinky Jain, a B.Ed student at Lady Irwin College.

“One has to leave flowery ideas of money-making in this profession and should only think of how to develop these children and work for the betterment of society. There is no reservation in government schools for mentally disabled students; they have been isolated from the education system. Directing government to appoint special educators will be of no help if the required aids for teaching with the qualified teachers will not be provided”, said, Saswati Singh, President, Inspiration, an NGO for autistic, mentally challenged and slow learners.

“The government should make it compulsory for private schools to admit disabled children as students and should also have special educators", says, Tanpreet Kaur, a B.Ed student at Lady Irwin College.

There are some private schools in Delhi too who have a special class for disabled students. “Rigidity and pressure of schools in India can make it difficult for a disabled child to cope without special allowances. So we have a special class for these children wherein special educators are appointed to teach them with the required teaching aids", said, Jeniffer Tytler, principal, J.D. Tytler School.

“In a comprehensive Action Plan for the Inclusion of Education for Special Children and Youth with Disabilities, formulated by the human resources and development ministry and released in March 2005, the Indian government is committed to providing education through mainstream schools for children with disabilities. The plan also commits to providing the necessary teaching materials, provision of trained teachers, accessible physical infrastructure, provisions for disabled students from rural areas, a disability coordinator in universities, provision for home-based learning for those with severe multiple and intellectual disability” said the Secretary of HRD Ministry.
Special education in India is still in its infancy stage. A career in special education is still unique and distinct. Thinking critically and genuinely about the issue is very important at this time as autism is nearly to become an epidemic. But with the High Court order, hopes have risen for special children to get a better deal out of life.
Denying disabled children with proper facilities, the government is denying them the right to education.

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BY Rachita Kauldhar
rachita.kauldhar@gmail.com