Education for special children has a long way to go, finds survey

Updated on: Saturday, December 31, 2011

There are 53,557 children with disabilities of various kinds enrolled in Goa schools. But Goa has a long way to go when it comes to providing inclusive education to physically and mentally challenged children.

As per the survey for 2009-10 carried out by the Union human resource development ministry (HRD), children with physical and mental disabilities comprise only 0.61% of Goa's total enrolment in schools. This enrolment of 53,557 students includes children with disabilities related to hearing, sight, speech, movement and mental health among others.

Till the 2008-09 survey of the HRD ministry, only 24.76% schools provided a ramp to disabled children as against 41% schools nationally.

The figure has, however, improved in the 2009-10 survey to 45.45%. Inclusive education is, however, a far cry. Inclusive education where special students study and socialize with a class of regular children was introduced in Goa as late as 2003.

Only half-a-dozen schools in Goa have resource rooms where specially-abled children study the 'exact' syllabus as the rest of the class, only a more simplified version of it with the help of drawings and objects. They, however, join the regular class of students for physical education, arts and crafts, poetry, morning assembly and other school activities.

The idea is to give these children a feel of what it is like to be with a regular class of children. The exercise, at the same time, sensitizes a regular class to the needs of special children.

Principal of a government-owned special school in North Goa said, "Generally, parents with special children do not like to invest much in them as they are seen as a liability rather than an asset." She further said that Goa does not have a facility till date where children with special needs are cared for when parents have to go about their chores. "This makes a parent grudge the child as they cannot leave the child unattended as with regular children."

Most schools in Goa have not been open to the idea of including a resource room on their premises as parents of regular students raise concerns over the safety of their children among other worries such as interaction with special children 'affecting them intellectually'. Opening resource rooms also requires schools to carry out sensitization programmes for parents and students, the resources for which the school has to raise.

Initiatives like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan provide nominal amounts of money to open resource rooms that are far from sufficient for schools to venture into long-term commitments like inclusive education for special children.

Times of India

Education for special children has a long way to go, finds survey

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