People with Disabilities in India: From Commitment to Outcomes

Out of school rates for CWD are high in all states and CWD account for a higher proportion of all out
of school children as overall attendance rates increase
Figure 4.5: Share of 6-13 year old CWD and all children out of school, 2005
60
Figure 4.5
50
%of cohort out of school
40
30
20
CWD
All
10
0
AP
Assam
Bihar
Delhi
Har
Jhar
J&K
Karn
Kerala
MP
Maha
Oris
Punj
Raj
TN
UP
WB
Source: SRI survey, 2005.
4.17. The other obvious aspect of educational attainment is to look at specific categories of
CWD. This is shown in Figure 4.6. It is clear that illiteracy is high among all categories of
disability, and extremely so for children with visual, multiple and mental disabilities. The
numbers also rebut a common assumption that poor educational outcomes of CWD are a function
of low intellectual capacities among children with mental impairments. At the same time,
locomotor disabled children stand out as having substantially lower illiteracy rates than other
CWD. This is explainable in part by the fact that less curricular or learning material adaptations
are needed to promote inclusive education for locomotor disabled compared other categories of
disabled children are required, but are also driven by family and community attitudes.
Illiteracy rates are very high among all CSN, though lower for children with locomotor disabilities
Figure 4.6: Share of Illiterate of 6-13 year old CWD by disability category, 2002
Figure *.*: Share of illiterate 5-18 year old CWD by disability category, 2002
80%
%of childrenwithspecifieddisability
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Mental Visual Hearing Speech Locomotor Multiple
Source: NSS, 58 th round. Bank staff estimates.
4.18. (iii) Where are CWD going to school ? This has several elements – whether
CWD are attending regular or special schools, whether they are attending public or nongovernment
schools, and for those in the government system what proportion of CWD are
receiving alternative forms of education. This can be pieced together from several sources. On
the issue of regular or special school, the NSS indicates that the overwhelming majority of
CWD attend regular rather than special schools. Around 70 percent of disabled children and
young adults aged 5-20 have ever attended school in their lives. Of these, fully 90 percent have
attended a regular school. The figures for those currently attending school are very similar and
are shown in Table 4.2, with nearly all 5-18 year old CWD who are in school attending regular
schools. This brings home clearly that the choice facing most CWD is whether they are out of
school or in regular school, and hence the necessity of promoting inclusive regular schools.
The NSS also provides insight into why CWD are not enrolling in special schools. The picture is
somewhat ambiguous, with a fairly even split between clear supply side factors such as lack of
any or accessible special schools, clear demand side factors such as lack of parental interest and
economic reasons, and factors related to the child’s disability which are hard to interpret.
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