(a) whether provisions for children with disabilities provided under the Right to Education Act are not being implemented
in many schools;
(b) if so, the details thereof, along with the obstacles in the way for implementing these provisions;
(c) whether there is any programme to recruit special teachers who are experts in teaching such special need students;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SHASHI THAROOR)
(a) The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory education
of all children in the age group of 6-14 years, including children with disabilities. The Act provides for inclusive
education in a neighbourhood school and mandates that the schools are made barrier free. The RTE Act, 2009 also makes
children with disability eligible for 25% admission in Class I in private unaided schools under Section 12(i)(c).
(b) The identification of children with disabilities, preparing the educational system to become inclusive and integrated
through the training of teachers, continuous evaluation and updating teaching methodologies are some of the major
challenges faced in this process.
(c) to (e) Under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), which is a centrally sponsored scheme to assist States/UTs in the
implementation of the RTE Act, in-service training is provided to all government school teachers on integration and
inclusive education for disabled children. In addition 17,721 technically qualified Resource Teachers have been put
in place to work with children with disabilities and 4435 Resource Persons have been put in place to train teachers
in inclusive education.