Indian Court Orders Schools to Accommodate Disabled Children
By Kay Schriner (kays@uark.edu)
The Delhi state high court has ordered New Delhi city officials to take steps to ensure that disabled children are educated in the city's schools.
Before the April 30 ruling, the court had accepted the city's contention that it was moving forward with plans to increase the number of teachers serving kids with disabilities. But in the new ruling, the court cited the city for its failure to implement the plan.
The petitioner in the case, the legal advocacy group Social Jurist, provided evidence that of roughly 200,000 school-age children with disabilities in the city, only about 800 are in school. The major reason is that there are not enough schools or trained teachers to meet the need.
According to Social Jurist's lawyer, "[t]here is not a single teacher for special children in 1,851 [city] schools and there are only seven teachers in 1,027 Delhi state government schools."
Social Jurist argued that the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995 requires that government provide training for teachers of children and youth with disabilities.
Information for this story was taken from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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