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Give disabled children a choice, amend RTE:
NAC
Thursday April 12, 2012 12:46:00 PM,
Amit Agnihotri,
IANS
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New Delhi: The Sonia
Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) wants the human
resource development (HRD) ministry to amend the right to
education (RTE) law to ensure that disabled children have the
choice to study either in an ordinary or a special school.
"The HRD ministry should amend the act to ensure that the RTE to
all children with disabilities is safeguarded and that the choice
to such children to study in an inclusive school or a special
school is real," said the draft guidelines framed by the council's
working group on the rights of the disabled.
According to the NAC, while one view was that children with
sensory disabilities would benefit from education in separate
settings and a supportive environment, the other was that
education was the key to promoting positive attitudes in people
with disabilities.
"Segregating children with disability perpetuates stereotyping and
lack of understanding of the difference, leading to discrimination
in all areas of life," said the guidelines.
Making a mention of the draft Rights of Persons With Disabilities
Bill, 2011, the advisory body said the proposed legislation did
not take a position on the issue of sending disabled children to
special or integrated schools.
The NAC said it concurred with the approach adopted in the bill
that it was appropriate to let children and their guardians have a
choice on the kind of school they would like to access - inclusive
or special.
Noting that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
Act extended to all children, including the disabled, the advisory
council said norms for schools needed to be revised.
"This would imply that every school would need to be inclusive
with teachers trained with basic skills of special teachers," said
the NAC, adding, "If this is not feasible then the maximum
distance norms for a disabled child to access an inclusive school
would need to be clarified".
Since the choice of special school was also guaranteed in the
Rights of Persons With Disabilities Bill, the RTE needed to
indicate norms for special schools and the level at which these
would be available to the disabled, said the NAC.
For instance, there can be a distance norm or that every district
will have special schools, as well as numbers per population in
cities and towns, said the NAC.
The advisory council said the RTE law will need to indicate the
qualification of teachers in special schools and the system of
certification.
According to NAC estimates based on 2001 figures, there are nearly
22 million disabled people in India.
(Amit Agnihotri can be contacted at amit.a@ians.in)
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