Bring down the barrier to education for the disabled
Despite the disability law pen ali sing lack of access, there is no change on the ground
Not even 1% of India’s 789 universities, 37,204 colleges and 11,443 stand-alone higher education institutions are disabled-friendly. Despite the enactment of the Right to Education Act in 2009, which promised free and compulsory primary education to every child in the country, less than 0.1% of India’s 2.68 crore people with disabilities are enrolled in schools. As they move from primary to secondary and higher education, the figure drops to a dismal .01%.
The dearth of infrastructure that facilitates access for the physically challenged — ramps, railings and accessible wash rooms – is just one of the reasons which prevent them from pursuing their studies. There is absence of trained staff and alternative teaching aides. In order to compete with their peers, the partially sighted, for instance, need specialised books and material in Braille. Those are seldom provided. In the last decade, since the non-profit Samarthyam began conducting access audits for educational institutions, co-founder Anjlee Agarwal doesn’t recall coming across even one that is disabled-friendly.
Despite the laws having acquired more teeth to deal with this issue, our planners and builders remain apathetic. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill passed in 2016 sets the government a two-year deadline to ensure that those with disability get barrier-free access in infrastructure and transport systems. Additionally, it holds the private sector — builders and developers — accountable for creating an accessible environment. The punitive action for non-compliance can be a five-year prison term. So, in accordance with the National Building, any new college being planned has to be 100 per cent accessible. If a chunk of the 2.68 crore physically challenged people in the country cannot board a train, watch a movie or operate an ATM owing to lack of access, and if we make it difficult for many of them to attend college, all the talk of a demographic dividend amounts to little.