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Educationists want government to act tough with schools who don’t admit special children.
At a discussion on inclusive education last week, the focus was on how to make schooling systems truly inclusive. Suggestions such as cancelling school licences, enhancing infrastructure, regulating curriculum, sensiting teachers and many others were discussed.
Special children have somehow remained at the periphery of all the action in the education sector. It is indeed mystifying how a 30 million slice of population is almost invisible to policy makers, educators and schools alike.
However, the education community is slowly coming around to the idea of strictly enforcing inclusive education in spirit and letter as educationists are now calling for strict action against mainstream schools that resist admitting children with special needs.
At a discussion on inclusive education last week, it was pointed out that cut-throat competition in mainstream schools is also acting as a detriment against inclusive educational.
The education record of special children is very poor in India, with only 28% of children with special needs reaching Class X and a mere 3% studying up to Class XII, an Observer Research Foundation (ORF) official reported.
Mousumi Bhaumik, officer in-charge, National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), Navi Mumbai, pointed out that the rare occasion when schools admitted a special student was when they were compelled to do so through a court directive.
Varsha Hooja, CEO, ADAPT (formerly Spastic Society of India), suggested that the state government take a sterner view of schools not taking in special kids and cancel certification of such schools. She observed that special kids adjusted perfectly in rural schools but faced barriers in urban classrooms.
The extent to which mainstream schools shun special students is evident from the reluctance to even get trained on how to deal with special children. Such is the reluctance that at times schools even send their PT teachers as fillers at training sessions.
Smriti Mirani of ORF says the reluctance translates to on ground realities like most schools lack basic infrastructure like ramps and lifts. She added that mainstream and special schools should collaborate to remove barriers in making classrooms more inclusive.
Damayanti Bhattacharya, headmistress of Cathedral and John Connon School Middle School, regretted that awareness about special children was so low, even in schools, that for many it was restricted to perceptions formed by films like Taare Zameen Par.
“The yardstick of success could be different for special children. For parents of some special children, a child being promoted from junior to senior KG itself would be a big achievement,” said Nita Mehta of New Horizons Child Development Centre.
Another participant at the meet, Shyamala Dalvi who is a special educator and psychologist, said that the rigid state board curriculum was simply not tuned to the needs of special children.
“In a regular school, the ultimate goal seems to be to pass Class X. So, you just pull and push to get the child to pass Class X, which does not work in the case of a special child. You need a vision for them,” she said.
Ila Shah of NGO Muktangan, felt there will “always be students who cannot pass SSC” and suggested that special kids be made to appear for open school exams.
Many like Rubina Lal of Suvidya Centre of Special education expressed the need to train teachers to sensitise and help them assess special children better.