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Chandigarh schools discourage autistic children from taking admissions
Chandigarh schools are either turning away autistic children or encouraging their parents to withdraw them from mainstream schools citing adjustment problems. Lack of inclusive education is leaving the parents a worried lot.
In the hope of getting her ‘normal’ education, the parents of a 16-year-old autistic girl had to change 13 schools in the city. Every public school that she approached turned her down because of her disability. Her story is similar to that of every autistic child wanting education in Chandigarh. Her mother Mamta Sharma laments that city schools are insensitive as she eventually settled for a special school for her daughter.
“Most schools, owing to ‘behavioural issues’ of these children, tend to ask them to leave in a year or so; or they convince parents not to admit their child in the school in the first place, citing adjustment or academic issues,” informed Dr Bhawna Aggarwal, another parent.
“Even the seemingly ‘normal’ children jump around, make noise and spill water. But when our children do it, they are labelled as ‘dangerous’ or ‘threat’ to other children,” added Bhawna Sharma from Solan, the mother parent of a 13-year-old who underwent a similar fate in Himachal Pradesh. “My child is special. He loves mathematics and science. His classmates love him. It is their parents who object to special children being around their ‘normal’ kids,” bewails Bhawna.
Dr Gurpreet Singh, another parent points out to an interesting reason. She says lack of special educators is the leading cause behind the rejection. “We have hired a special educator at Rs 12,000 per month for our child, who studies in Class V at a school in Mohali, as the school did not have one. But not every parent can afford this luxury,” he said.
In today’s times when India is increasingly positioning itself as a knowledge economy, the importance of good education cannot be overstated. While the education ministry is taking giant leaps towards increasing the education net, very little is done to make education more inclusive. By leaving out children with special needs, we may be turning potential assets into unproductive dead weight. Inclusive education not only will allow them to be independent but also contribute to the economy.