Question : Education for Students with Learning Disabilities

(a) the number and percentage of children suffering from learning disability to the
total number of school going children along with the number of enrolled in primary,
secondary and higher education in the country, State/UT-wise;
(b) whether the Government has been providing counselling support to learning
disabled children and their parents and if so, the details and outcome thereof;
(c) whether the Government has also been providing training to Anganwadi
workers/helpers to facilitate early identification of children with learning disability;
(d) if so, the details and achievements thereof along with the number and ratio of
qualified/trained persons to such children in the country;
(e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to promote awareness
about learning disability and to provide adequate qualified/trained persons for
teaching to such children in the country; and
(f) the details of specialised training imparted to school teachers to detect and
properly address concerns of students with learning disabilities?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a): Data is available under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the programme for
universalising elementary education for all children from 6-14 years of age, wherein
1.82 lakh children with learning disabilities are enrolled at primary level in all
management schools as per Unified District Information System for Education
(UDISE) 2015-16. These constitute 0.14% of the total enrolment at the primary level.
State/UT-wise details of enrolment of children alongwith enrolment of children with
learning disabilities at primary level of schooling are at Annexure.
At the secondary and higher secondary level of schooling 19613 students with
learning disabilities are enrolled in all management schools, which is 0.03% of the
total enrolment.
(b): Under SSA regular counselling programmes are conducted for children with
special needs (CWSN) and their parents. Under the SSA, so far 8.36 lakh parents of
CWSN have been given such training. Besides, the resource persons engaged at
the Block Resource Centres (BRCs) exclusively for CWSN, conduct home visits to
counsel parents.
(c): Under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme run by
Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Anganwadi workers are oriented to
detect disabilities in young children.
(d): Under SSA, the norm is to provide two resource persons at the BRC exclusively
for CWSN. There is provision of Rs. 3000/- per child, per year for CWSN, as per
specific proposal received from the State/UT, provided that at least Rs. 1000/- per
child will be earmarked for engaging Resource Teachers. Currently 20910 qualified
resource persons and resource teachers are specifically engaged for CWSN.
(e) & (f): SSA promotes inclusion of CWSN in schools through their early
identification, educational placement, provision of aids and appliances and other
resource support services, teacher training, parental training, community
mobilisation, curricular adaptations, removal of architectural barriers, as well as
residential, non residential or even home based education, as per their specific
requirements.
Under SSA, detailed assessment guidelines have been developed for early
identification of various groups of CWSN, including children with specific learning
disabilities. The guidelines also include identification of slow learners and children
with mild mental retardation.
The National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) has developed
exemplar material on curricular adaptations, inclusive teaching and how to adopt
flexibility in evaluation for children with disabilities in inclusive classrooms. These
handbooks, meant for primary and upper primary level teachers, covers all
disabilities, including cognitive and intellectual disabilities, have been disseminated
to States/UTs. 5.00 lakh teachers under SSA have already been trained on this
exemplar material. Further, under SSA, so far 2.11 lakh general teachers have been
specifically trained on learning disabilities.
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