News

Volume 4 Issue 3 - February 01, 2006

Severely disabled people untouched by state education scheme in Himachal Pradesh

D.N.I.S. News Network - A micro survey in Himachal Pradesh has revealed that severely disabled children in the state’s Mandi-Balh-Sundernagar belt are yet to be reached by the Integrated Education for Disabled (I.E.D.) under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (S.S.A.) or universal education scheme.

The survey conducted by S.S.A. has once again brought into focus the inefficacy of the scheme that was launched in 2002 with the sole purpose of reaching disabled children in the Mandi district. Over 291 severely disabled children identified under the S.S.A. so far are yet to be covered under I.E.D. even after four years, according to the survey.

In the district of Mandi itself, the survey has identified over 5,180 disabled children. The break-up of those identified reveals that as many as 628 children are mentally disabled, 443 have orthopeadic disabilities, 627 are vision impaired, 490 are hearing impaired, 329 children have multiple disabilities and over 1,722 have learning disabilities.

The reported number of disabled children has been on the rise. In 2001, S.S.A. teachers had identified only 734 disabled children.