Education of Children With Special Needs (CWSN)

The JRM acknowledges the major gains achieved in the enrollment of CWSN
across almost all states visited. The basic principle of ensuring education of all CWSN
under a “zero rejection” policy seems to be understood at all levels and efforts are being
undertaken to put this policy into action, although given the many challenges this will
take time. Identification of CWSN has improved, although their numbers in each state
are generally below the figure which the standard distribution of 1.8-2.0 percent of the
population with special needs would indicate, suggesting more efforts are needed in this
regard. Once identified, many CWSN (if needed) receive aids and appliances and are
enrolled in regular schools, if their disability is not extreme. For more extreme cases,
children receive special education through collaborating NGOs and/or home-based
services. Enrollment rates of identified CWSN have increased over the last two years in
all states visited by the JRM and range from 50-98 percent.

In terms of barrier-free infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of ramps have been

built in elementary schools to allow children in wheelchairs to access their classrooms,
although the location, slopes and position of railings were found by the JRM to be sub-
optimal in many cases. DISE 2006-07 estimates that the national average of elementary
classrooms with ramps is XX percent. However, the JRM found very few toilets which
were barrier-free; in most cases this would only require some well-placed railings. More
needs to be done in this area.

Staffing and training for CWSN remains the biggest challenging. Special
Education Resource Teachers have been hired in many states but not in the required
quantities, such that they are stretched too thin to fulfill their responsibilities. Many of
them are specialists in only one area of CWSN; they need capacity-building to respond to
a wider range of disabilities, and to enable CWSN to thrive in regular (rather than
special) schools. While many teachers (as much as one per school in several states) have
participated in 1-day special needs awareness training, far fewer have taken the 5-day
training and only a very small percentage (estimate less than one percent) have completed
the comprehensive 90-day training regarding CWSN. More positively, posters promoting
inclusive education of disabled children were seen in the CLRCs visited by the JRM, and
as a result there is more information and awareness at all levels of the system.

Many states visited by the JRM have used SSA funding to develop fruitful
partnerships with NGOs with experience and capacity in educating CWSN. In some
cases these NGOs provide special education to CWSN outside of the school environment,
in others they train and support mobile special educators who work with CWSN
attending regular schools. More convergence needs to be pursued at the State and District
levels with other agencies working in this field, including the medical field, the
departments of Child Welfare and Social Justice, and District Collector Offices (which
can certify disability).

The JRM feels that efforts on behalf of CWSN must move onto the next level and
look at academic gains, self-confidence gains and truly inclusive education. The GoI’s
ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides the
basis for the adoption of a rights-based approach to education of CWSN.