Meenal Chopra, 15, was in a "special needs" school till Class IX. She now likes it at the Rohini private school she attends but would have felt more comfortable if her teachers were better equipped to handle visually-impaired kids like her. "In my previous school, there were trained teachers who looked after us. But the environment didn't allow much freedom. I am more independent here. Though the teachers are helpful, they aren't fully trained to deal with our needs," she says. Chopra's admission into a mainstream school was facilitated by the All India Confederation of the Blind.
This is the reality for many disabled children placed in mainstream schools. Although there are policies promoting integration of disabled kids - identified as children with special needs or CWSN by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - experts and activists say attempts at mainstreaming have largely failed in Delhi.
"Is the system accessible?" asks G Syamala of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (AADI). It's a rhetorical question, really. "Putting a disabled child into a regular school doesn't mean successful integration. A child who cannot see will depend on hearing and a child who cannot hear will depend on sight. Are books available in all these formats?" she asks.
According to 2009-10 SSA data, all government schools in Delhi (3,475) have "barrier-free access" - school buildings have ramps and handrails. "When a child is two-and-a-half, she needs to be put into playschool which requires kids to be toilet-trained. These schools don't know how to handle a child who is not talking or walking," says Syamala.
"After RTE, no school can reject the application of a child on the basis of disability but they are expected to learn a lot before they enter - taking care of self, managing the environment. A child with impairment needs more help and more time. But schools are not ready to give that." Even the admission procedure is difficult as parents are asked to take their kids to "special schools" or pressed to produce "disability certificates".
Dr Madhumita Puri of Society for Child Development, says that the student-to-teacher ratio in regular schools doesn't help either. "A teacher with a class that's filled to capacity gets nervous if a child with special needs is put in. She is not only unsure of her own competence to handle the child but the necessary equipment is also limited. That's when the marginalization happens."
"Training of teachers is important. If teachers aren't equipped to handle disabled kids, the latter will drop out," says an expert on inclusive education (IE). She says categorically that part of SSA "hasn't taken off in Delhi. However, SSA data from end-2010 claims that 88.94% of CWSN (12,068 out of 13,568) have been enrolled in schools - a statistic that most activists and experts working in the field reject. "A major chunk of the disabled in Delhi is out of school," she says, "Usually, only enrolled kids are included in the data." She goes on to explain that private schools don't solve the problem either. "In most private schools, there's only partial mainstreaming, not full inclusion," she says. And "special needs" wings of such schools are too expensive. "These schools spend more on resources and special educators and most children can't afford that," says another activist. However, there are also cases, where disabled children have been successfully integrated into mainstream courses like commerce and science. Rohan Garg, 16, who's visually impaired, was admitted into the commerce stream of a reputed private school. He's only being charged the regular fees and finds the teachers very supportive.
"Delhi has two sets of agencies - both central and state - yet it has nothing," comments Javed Abidi, an IE-expert. With too many agencies in the field, no one takes ownership. There are lots of NGOs but the government hasn't entered into partnerships with them," he says. Under SSA, there are 250-300 resource teachers and about 100 volunteers, which is nowhere near the kind of manpower required to tackle the disability sector. For that reason, a 90-day training programme for teachers was formulated with Rehabilitation Council of India. But, its enforcement had been hugely resisted.
"Even the 90-day training is not a comprehensive programme. It's only a foundation-course that teaches how to identify the disabled and refer them to special educators," says a senior government official. Shanti Auluck of Muskaan says that for the professionals who come into the field, it's the last option. "The quality of training is no
This is the reality for many disabled children placed in mainstream schools. Although there are policies promoting integration of disabled kids - identified as children with special needs or CWSN by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - experts and activists say attempts at mainstreaming have largely failed in Delhi.
"Is the system accessible?" asks G Syamala of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (AADI). It's a rhetorical question, really. "Putting a disabled child into a regular school doesn't mean successful integration. A child who cannot see will depend on hearing and a child who cannot hear will depend on sight. Are books available in all these formats?" she asks.
According to 2009-10 SSA data, all government schools in Delhi (3,475) have "barrier-free access" - school buildings have ramps and handrails. "When a child is two-and-a-half, she needs to be put into playschool which requires kids to be toilet-trained. These schools don't know how to handle a child who is not talking or walking," says Syamala.
"After RTE, no school can reject the application of a child on the basis of disability but they are expected to learn a lot before they enter - taking care of self, managing the environment. A child with impairment needs more help and more time. But schools are not ready to give that." Even the admission procedure is difficult as parents are asked to take their kids to "special schools" or pressed to produce "disability certificates".
Dr Madhumita Puri of Society for Child Development, says that the student-to-teacher ratio in regular schools doesn't help either. "A teacher with a class that's filled to capacity gets nervous if a child with special needs is put in. She is not only unsure of her own competence to handle the child but the necessary equipment is also limited. That's when the marginalization happens."
"Training of teachers is important. If teachers aren't equipped to handle disabled kids, the latter will drop out," says an expert on inclusive education (IE). She says categorically that part of SSA "hasn't taken off in Delhi. However, SSA data from end-2010 claims that 88.94% of CWSN (12,068 out of 13,568) have been enrolled in schools - a statistic that most activists and experts working in the field reject. "A major chunk of the disabled in Delhi is out of school," she says, "Usually, only enrolled kids are included in the data." She goes on to explain that private schools don't solve the problem either. "In most private schools, there's only partial mainstreaming, not full inclusion," she says. And "special needs" wings of such schools are too expensive. "These schools spend more on resources and special educators and most children can't afford that," says another activist. However, there are also cases, where disabled children have been successfully integrated into mainstream courses like commerce and science. Rohan Garg, 16, who's visually impaired, was admitted into the commerce stream of a reputed private school. He's only being charged the regular fees and finds the teachers very supportive.
"Delhi has two sets of agencies - both central and state - yet it has nothing," comments Javed Abidi, an IE-expert. With too many agencies in the field, no one takes ownership. There are lots of NGOs but the government hasn't entered into partnerships with them," he says. Under SSA, there are 250-300 resource teachers and about 100 volunteers, which is nowhere near the kind of manpower required to tackle the disability sector. For that reason, a 90-day training programme for teachers was formulated with Rehabilitation Council of India. But, its enforcement had been hugely resisted.
"Even the 90-day training is not a comprehensive programme. It's only a foundation-course that teaches how to identify the disabled and refer them to special educators," says a senior government official. Shanti Auluck of Muskaan says that for the professionals who come into the field, it's the last option. "The quality of training is no
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