According to the uninspiring official records of the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities of the government of Karnataka (pop.61 million), the number of physically challenged children in the age group four-16 statewide is a mere 279,523. Even if this patent underestimate is correct, the commissioner admits there are just 30 class I-X special schools for them with an aggregate enrolment of 1,500 students.
Worse, even this grossly inadequate number of special schools run by the state currently administered by the scam-tainted BJP government, are plagued with a host of problems including lack of qualified teachers, outdated curriculums, disabled-unfriendly buildings and infrastructure as well as inefficient use of funds. “About Rs.200 crore (Rs.500 crore according to the state’s planning secretary) budgeted for physically challenged citizens is unutilised. The commission is exerting pressure on Mysore and Bangalore municipal corporations to utilise these allocations. Moreover, there is a big shortage of special educators and most special schools requisition government school teachers on deputation. The number of qualified special educators across the state is less than 1,000. Accessibility is also an issue,” admits K.V. Rajanna, state commissioner for persons with disabilities, who reveals that the curriculum of the class I-X children fortunate to be admitted into the state’s special schools, was last revised in 1980.
Shortage of trained special educators is a direct outcome of the abysmal number of teacher training institutions offering special education study programmes in the state, and across the country. Currently, Karnataka hosts only two Rehabilitation Council of India-certified teacher training centres offering special education diplomas — the Government Teachers Training Centre for the Hearing Handicapped and Hellen Keller Government Teacher Training Centre for Visually Handicapped Children, both in Mysore, which certify 20 special educators each annually. Additionally, non-inclusion of special education in the regular B.Ed (bachelor of education) programme has aggravated the problem with teachers employed in government and private schools ill-qualified to implement inclusive education pedagogies in their classrooms. However, sources in the Union HRD ministry say the National Council of Teacher Education — the apex body for teacher training in the country which has undergone a major overhaul — is revamping the D.Ed and B.Ed curriculums to equip all teachers with skills to manage children of varying abilities including pupils with special needs.
With a global and national movement building in favour of inclusive education and the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009, which makes it mandatory for the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children between six-14 years, being amended to include children with disabilities, mainstream schools — government and private — are obliged to admit children with disabilities. Yet despite the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, unanimously passed by Parliament 15 years ago, making it mandatory for the State (Central, state and local governments) to provide free and compulsory education to children with disabilities (s.26(a)), and include special children in mainstream schools (s.26(b)), educationists and special education activists are less than sanguine about inclusive education legislation being effectively implemented.
“It’s not enough to enact enabling legislation and policies. They have to be implemented effectively. In Karnataka, the state government must urgently invest in training its teachers to manage inclusive classrooms and upgrade infrastructure to ensure its schools provide meaningful education to children with special needs. It must also build public-private partnerships with private schools which must compulsorily practice inclusive education within their classrooms. If provided an enabling environment and education, differently abled children can contribute effectively to the economy and society,” says Priya Rao, associate director, Spastics Society of Karnataka.
However, with the incumbent BJP government preoccupied with firefighting a plethora of scandals including the Rs.16,083 crore illegal mining and Rs.500 crore housing scams, education of the state’s 279,523 disabled children is unlikely to figure anywhere near the top in the state government’s development agenda, if any.
Swati Roy (Bangalore)