Review of Education Policy

Review of Education Policy
Dipannita Bhattacharya

Preface:

In the following text, I have tried to review the National Policy on Education, 1986, with respect to the rights of the disabled. I have taken up the different components of elementary education as provided in this policy.
The text is divided into 3 sections after introduction. Section A is my own understanding about provisions of elementary education given in NPE 1986. Section B is about a general understanding of disability, extent of disability in India and the rights of persons with disability, and the last section is a critical evaluation of the policy with respect to the rights of the disabled.


Introduction:

Education is important not only for the development of ones personality, but also for the sustained growth of the nation. Elementary education, therefore, provides the base on which the development of every citizen and the nation as a whole rests.
Education, as a basic right, has been has been ratified by several international organizations and documents. According to Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 26(2),
“Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory.”
According to International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Right, 1966: Article 13 &14,
“Primary education shall be compulsory and available to all.”
The United Nations Convention on Child Rights( article 28,29),1989 also gives a lot of stress on the importance of free primary education, maintenance of school discipline in accordance with the dignity of the child and fullest development of his/her capabilities.
In India, while framing the Constitution, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had a view that there should be free and compulsory primary education, as a fundamental right. But other members of the constituent assembly cited the financial incapacity of the state and thus put this in under the directive principles of state policy, which are the non-justifiable rights of the citizens.
The National Policy on Education was passed in 1968, which was later reviewed and The National Policy on Education was adopted by the Parliament in May 1986. The Unnikrishnan judgment of 1993 was a historical landmark in recognizing education as a right, in which the Supreme Court held that right to compulsory and free education up to the age of 14 years is a fundamental right of every child. In the light of this judgment, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill,2008 has been passed, which has sparked off a lot of debate among the leading educationists.
Without going into the debate of the Bill, I will now try to review the different elements of the elementary education of the National Education Policy1986, with respect to the rights of disabled children.


Section A

The National Policy on Education 1986 (modified in 1992)

Essential features:

Elementary education

1. The policy gives priority to the universalisation of elementary education, up to 14 years of age. The thrust is mainly on universal enrolment and retention and also on the improvement of the quality of education imparted.
2. A child centered approach is to be adopted. A substantial improvement in the infrastructure and support services of primary schools is required and a variety of measures have been proposed for securing the participation of different marginalized sections of children. A policy of non-detention at primary level is to be followed and corporal punishment must be firmly dealt away with
3. Provision for quality non formal education for working children. All necessary measures are to be taken to ensure that the quality of NFE is comparable to that of formal education. Also steps will be taken to facilitate lateral entry into formal system of children passing out of NFE.
4. Reform in content and process of education, and a comprehensive teacher training programme is proposed.
5. The scope of Operation Blackboard will be enlarged to provide 3 reasonably large rooms with necessary teaching-learning aids and it is to be extended till upper primary level. Construction of school buildings is to be a priority and 50% of recruited teachers must be female.
6. Highest priority is to be given to dealing with the problem of child drop-outs
7. Common structure of education throughout the country, i.e., 10+2+3


Education for the handicapped

The objective should be to integrate the physically and mentally ‘handicapped’ with the mainstream community and prepare them for normal growth and development. The following measures have been taken in this regard:

 wherever feasible, the education of children with motor handicaps and other mild handicaps will be common to that of others
 as far as possible, provision for special schools and hostels at district headquarters for the severely handicapped
 provision for vocational training
 teacher training programme to be re-oriented in order to equip them to deal with the special needs of the handicapped children
 voluntary effort for the education of the disabled to be encouraged in every manner




Section B

There is no universal definition of disability. They range from the very narrow to the very broad, from the medical to the social, from the cultural to the local, from the one intended to integrate them in society to the one for exclusion and segregation. The WHO manual gives the following definitions:

Impairment: Impairment is any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological or anatomical structure or function
Disability: a disability is any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being
Handicap: a handicap is a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an impairment or disability that limits or prevents the fulfillment of a role that is normal (depending on age, sex, and social and cultural factors) for that individual.


Types of Disabilities
Census of India 2001 identified five types of disabilities. Number of disabled in each type of disabilities is depicted in table below, which shows total number of disabled in India at 21,906,769 which constitute more than 2 percent of total population.
Disabled in India by types of Disabilities
Types of Disabilities Number of Disabled Percentage
Seeing 10634881 48.55
Speech 1640868 7.49
Hearing 1261722 5.76
Movement 6105477 27.87
Mental 2263821 10.33
Total 21906769 100.00
Source: Census of India 2001
Table 2
This proportion is high when compared to data collected by national sample survey organization in its 58th round in the year 2002, but very lower than estimates of World health Organization and United Nations according to which around 10 percent of population in underdeveloped and developing countries are disabled.
Classification of disabled in India shows that nearly half total disabled are having seeing disabilities (48.55 percent) followed by movement disabilities (27.87 percent). Ten percent of total disabled are mentally disabled.

Disabilities by Residence
Classification of Disabilities by region
Types of Disabilities Residence
Persons Rural Urban
Total 21906769 (100.00) 16388382 (74.81) 5518387 (25.19%)
Seeing 10634881 (100.00) 7873383 (74.03) 2761498 (25.97)
Speech 1640868 (100.00) 1243854 (75.80) 397014 (24.20)
Hearing 1261722 (100.00) 1022816 (81.07) 238906 (18.93)
Movement 6105477 (100.00) 34654552 (76.24) 1450925 (23.76)
Mental 2263821 (100.00) 1593777 (70.40) 670044 (29.60)

Source: Census of India 2001
Table 2
Classification of disabled by residence shows that majority of disabled are living in the rural areas. 81.07 percent of people with hearing disabilities, 76.24 percent with movement disabilities, and 75.80 percent with speech disabilities reside in rural areas.
Lack of medical facilities, large family size, concentration of medical facilities in urban localities, etc. are the major reasons for this trend. The paradoxical situation here is concentration of organizations working for disabled in urban centers.
Disability and Literacy
Education is very important for all, especially for disabled. Education provides opportunities for employment and advancement. Literacy level among disabled of different categories is depicted in table below.
Literacy Rate among different categories of Disabled
Residence Persons Male Female
Disabilities Total
Total 49.31 58.15 37.32
Rural 44.40 54.11 31.31
Urban 63.87 70.05 55.36
Seeing Disability
Total 49.85 59.56 38.50
Rural 43.56 54.18 31.28
Urban 67.77 74.61 59.53
Speech Disability
Total 36.23 41.91 28.57
Rural 31.38 37.30 23.41
Urban 51.41 56.33 44.75
Hearing Disability
Total 43.17 55.73 28.79
Rural 39.31 52.20 24.38
Urban 59.72 71.24 47.11
Movement Disability
Total 57.37 65.44 43.08
Rural 53.74 62.52 38.17
Urban 69.04 74.80 58.18
Mental Disability
Total 37.89 43.68 29.27
Rural 34.72 41.17 25.21
Urban 45.44 49.55 39.15

Percentage of literate in each category of disabled
Source: Census of India 2001
Table 3
(http://www.disabilityindia.org/djartjan06A.cfm)

• Compared to a National literacy figure of around 65 percent the percentage of literacy levels of the disabled population is only 49 percent
• Literacy rates for the female disabled population is around 37 percent compared to national average of over 54 percent for the female population.
• Literacy rates for the male disabled population is 58.14 percent compared to 75.85 percent for males.
• According to NSSO 2002 figures, of the literate disabled population only 9 percent completed secondary and above education


Rights of the Disabled- Constitutional, National and International provisions
The 93rd Amendment of the Constitution of India has made education a fundamental human right for children in the 6-14 years age group thereby making it mandatory for all children to be brought under the fold of education. This includes children with disability.
India is a signatory to the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994) that emphasizes access to quality education for all. The Statement endorses the need for fundamental policy shifts required to promote the approach to inclusive education, namely enabling schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs by implementing practical and strategic changes.
The Government of India has enacted the legislation Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD Act) to achieve amongst other things, the goal of providing access to free education in an appropriate environment to all learners with disabilities till s/he attains the age of eighteen years. The Act endeavours to promote the integration of learners with disabilities in mainstream schools.
The National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCERT, 2000) has recommended inclusive schools for learners with special educational needs by making appropriate modifications in the content, presentation and transaction strategies, preparing teachers and developing learning friendly evaluation procedure
(http://punarbhava.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=313&Itemid=397)


United nations convention of child rights:
 Article 2 (Non-discrimination): The Convention applies to all children, whatever their race, religion or abilities; whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from. It doesn’t matter where children live, what language they speak, what their parents do, whether they are boys or girls, what their culture is, whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. No child should be treated unfairly on any basis

 Article 23 (Children with disabilities): Children who have any kind of disability have the right to special care and support, as well as all the rights in the Convention, so that they can live full and independent lives.

United nations CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, adopted in 13 December 2006


Constitution

Article 14 states Equality of law and equal opportunities, prohibits discrimination on the unreasonable grounds.


India is a signatory of all the above international conventions and itself containing the aforesaid provisions, it is legally binding to give the persons with disability equal rights in terms of education and other things. All the policies, plans and programmes passed should be in accordance with this principle of non-discrimination and equality. Therefore wherever required, the persons with disability must be given due support in order to make them capable enough to realize their rights.

Section C

Review of the policy

The NPE 1986 has provided for the education of disabled children in regular school system, thus aiming at the integration of children with physical and mental disabilities with the mainstream community. The Plan of Action, 1992 estimated that about 10.39 million children with disabilities must be provided education in the regular school system. The Eighth five year plan had also provided opportunities to the disabled people for education, vocational training and economic rehabilitation.
The NPE 1986 emphasized INCLUSION while launching schemes for integrated education. Integrated education represents a supportive approach to serving those with special needs and is based on the principles of inclusion.
Inclusive education means what it says. It means to include the child with special needs in the same way in which any other child will be included. This approach recommends education of children with special needs in the overall general educational structure of the nation. This also means beginning education at the very start in early childhood and continuing it right through the whole educational system. It includes adapting the whole school structure, the buildings and furniture, the teacher training curriculums and the attitude of the siblings, parents and public to include children with special needs in a regular school system. It should lead to an educational system which is explicitly disabled friendly.
Even if the at the policy level it has been accepted by the government that disabled children are entitled to education, most of them do not get any education at all or receive very inferior quality of education as compared to that of non-disabled children. The conventional residential school for disabled children system of education, despite the best efforts, remains outside the reach of a majority of disabled children. Those who do gat it are forced to remain outside the mainstream activities of society and accept exclusion as a matter of routine.
Going back to the policy itself, the elementary education policy and education of handicapped is completely segregated from each other and kept in separate sections. Also the term ‘handicapped’ is very derogatory and must be removed from the policy. If elementary education is meant for children, and every child is equal, then even disabled children should be a part of the policy elements. The provisions of elementary education should be benefiting them equally.
The definition adopted by government on disability is not inclusive as it does not give classification of disability in the policy. Hence the special needs of different groups of disabled persons are neither acknowledged nor addressed properly.
The policy is not in full accordance with the rights of the disabled, as it contains terms like, ‘wherever feasible’, ‘as far as possible’, giving the state the option of not providing what is there in the policy.
There is the provision of a comprehensive teacher education programme given in the policy. The term ‘comprehensive’ is very ambiguous as it is not very specific about the issues covered. It is very important that the teachers be given training on disability otherwise they wont be able to distinguish between learning disabled and slow learners, for example, and hence wont be able to take care of their respective needs.
According to the policy, there is provision for free and compulsory education up to the age of 14 years. This statement has a number of connotations. Firstly, as per definition of child according to UNCRC, as well as JJ Act, anyone who is below 18 years is a child. Then why has the government mentioned free and compulsory education only till 14 years of age? Secondly, for a mentally disabled person, the upper age limit should not be fixed a 14 or 18. Rather it should be till his rehabilitation. It is because of the probability that he won’t be able to complete his elementary education by the above prescribed age depending on his mental maturity. So, how far is it fair that a normal child be given full elementary education while a mentally disabled child is barred from it?
Thirdly, the ‘free’ elementary education given by government excludes a lot of necessary stuff. The responsibility of the state does not end with providing tuition fees and books. It should also include medical checkups, food, uniforms, etc. The term ‘Compulsory’ education means that someone is accountable for children not going to school. It is as much the responsibility of the parents as it is of the state. So what are the provisions in case the state fails to fulfill its responsibility? The goal is universal enrolment and retention. Now, for example, a visually impaired child goes to a so called ‘inclusive’ school. There, due to lack of technology like computers or Braille script, he drops out. Here he is letting go of his right to education and consequently, his right to livelihood. So will the state take responsibility for this?
Stress is given on the improvement of infrastructure, but there are no prescribed norms, nor any standardized set of criteria. School buildings are usually ‘exclusive’- mostly for the able and rarely for the disabled. There is absolutely no component in the policy that prescribes ‘inclusive’ school buildings- which can be used both by the able and disabled, and therefore each will tend to view the another as a ‘different other’ rather than a ‘lesser’ or ‘greater’ other. To illustrate, probably for children with loco motor disability, use of sufficiently wide door openings for classrooms, toilets and ramps which can accommodate crutches or wheelchairs comfortably without hurting the hands, would be of some help. The ramps should have minimum slope possible to drive the wheelchair effortlessly, without any outside help. It should be such that the person feels secure and does not slip accidentally.
In the school curriculum, usually we are taught about marginalized sections like women or caste groups- basically the ‘have nots’. But there is very less mention of disabled people as part of the deprived group. The curriculum needs to be re-framed so that there is sensitivity about this particular issue in the minds of the people.
The policy has excluded many small yet relevant details. For example, there are certain activities from which disabled people are traditionally barred like sports or other extra-curricular activities. The system must be re-structured in order to ensure their participation in all such activities. Then again, there is the question of accessibility and transport. The transport system should be made disable friendly so that they have easy access to it.
The government has provisions both for special schools and inclusive schools, depending upon the needs of the child. But education in special schools is too expensive and out of reach of common man. In case of inclusive schools, it is of course affordable, but the question of quality difference is always there. In inclusive schools the main stress is on socialization of children, so that they become sensitive enough. The choice between either type is not based on the severity of the disability, rather on the economic condition of the family. While rehabilitation, for whom will it be easier then? So it is very debatable whether the state should make every inclusive school like a special school or vice versa.
The provision for severely handicapped is special schools at district headquarters.
From table 2, we have seen that a majority of disabled are from rural areas. So it is not feasible for them to come to district headquarters for education. Even if the schools are residential schools, it needs to be understood that disabled children have special needs which must be taken care of. Therefore the feasibility of they being away from their family is something which needs to be considered as well.


CONCLUSION

“Disabled people define their situation not in terms of individual impairment but in terms of social oppression”
- Sally French

Disability is a human rights issue and it must be clearly realized by all that the disabled are an integral part of society and every effort must be made to involve them with the whole society. People with impairment feel disabled not because of their physical and/or mental handicaps but because of the barriers society chooses to put up to establish differences between the disabled and non-disabled.
The debate regarding the viability of special schools is not to be resolved anytime soon. On one hand it is a violation of the right of the disabled child if he is put in a special school, away from his natural environment and peers. On the other hand, it is very true that he has special needs which need to be taken care of.

According to UNCRC,
Article 4 (Protection of rights): Governments have a responsibility to take all available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. When countries ratify the Convention, they agree to review their laws relating to children. This involves assessing their social services, legal, health and educational systems, as well as levels of funding for these services. Governments are then obliged to take all necessary steps to ensure that the minimum standards set by the Convention in these areas are being met. They must help families protect children’s rights and create an environment where they can grow and reach their potential. In some instances, this may involve changing existing laws or creating new ones. Such legislative changes are not imposed, but come about through the same process by which any law is created or reformed within a country.
Therefore the NPE needs to be revised in order to bring about the provisions necessary for every person- disabled and non-disabled, haves and haves not, marginalized and non-marginalized, to have equal accessibility to all the facilities. Equality of opportunities and rights are the basic criteria for every human being to live a life of dignity and worth.

References:



1. Government of India, Program of action, NPE 1986.
2. V P Niranjanaradhya,(2004), Universalisation of school education-The Road Ahead, National Law School of India University, Banglore.
3. Prasad J& Prakash R(1996), Education of Handicapped Children Problems and Solutions, Kanishka Publisher Distributor, New Delhi.
4. Baquer A & Sharma A (1997), Disability: Challenges Vs Responses, Concerned Action Now, New Delhi.
5. http://punarbhava.in
6. http://www.disabilityindia.org