A new report published by World Vision tells non-government organisations (NGOs) around the world and the international community that the needs of disabled children should not be neglected in efforts to provide universal primary education to all the world's children by 2015. Merinews reports on the problems in India specifically."Poverty in India means many families have to make choices about, which of their children they can afford to send to school. Parents of children with disabilities have even more difficult choices, as they struggle to pay for medical treatment, special equipment and transport," Merinews reports.
India has an estimated 40 to 80 million people with disabilities, with about 30% of them being children under the age of 14 years.
According to Merinews, "India is one of the few countries in the world where 90% of disabled children do not receive any form of education. World over the education for disabled children is in disarray. Disabled children make up a third of the 77 million children worldwide who are excluded from education."
Some positive steps are being taken in India to provide a more inclusive system of education. The government says it will include disabled children in all its educational programs, such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), where more than 50,000 children with disability are enrolled.
