Extensive research on children suffering from ‘Intellectual Disablity’ is the need of the hour.
New delhi: About 1.8% of the Indian population suffers from some or the other kind of disability and among them, Intellectual Disability (ID) till date has remained untouched by extensive studies and government surveys, according to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).
Intellectual Disability, which was earlier known as mental retardation, refers to a condition where children suffer difficulties in communicating, learning, problem solving and adaptive behaviour. The alleged lack of government initiatives on children suffering from ID is evident in the low percentage of these children getting admissions in mainstream schools in the national capital.
Vipin, a father whose son suffers from ID, has enrolled his son at the Divya Vocational Centre in Dwarka. He said: “Most of the regular schools deny admission on various grounds such as lack of seats and facilities. There are only a handful of schools which have facilities in accordance with needs of children with special needs. However, the fees is too high and these schools are beyond the reach of economically poor families. If schools run by Delhi government provide facilities that are meant to benefit these children, that would be a relief, as every parent wants their kids to go to schools to learn social behaviour which is very important for their survival.”
While NSSO states that more than 25 lakh school students in India are identified as children with special needs, the 2011 census has stated that 45% of India’s disabled population is still illiterate, compared to 26% of Indians being illiterate.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Pratima Tiwari, who runs Divya Vocational Centre and is in-charge of St Mary’s school’s special wing for Intellectually Disabled students, named “AASMAN”, said that the “main reason behind children with special needs not being able to cope is the syllabus of our education system”. “CBSE does provide some facilities for these students such as third language exemption, subject substitution, allotment of reader, writer. But the problem is that the question paper is same as that of any other student at secondary and senior secondary levels. Since no one can be failed till class 8, a student can reach class 8, but he/she has not learnt anything. There are an extremely low percentage of children with special needs who are able to pass Class 10 board examinations and, hence, they are left with no option but to opt for National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS),” Tiwari said. Tiwari, along with her sister, runs a vocational training center where they train around 15 children with special needs (CWSN) students, including those with schizophrenia, autism, palsy and muscular dystrophy.