The chances of 20 million children with physical and other disabilities to get the right to education has been jeopardised, as the Right to Education Bill, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha on July 30, excludes them.
Disability rights activists who went and met Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal to point out this lacuna said he was dismissive of their appeal to delay the Bill and incorporate disabled children. The activists are staging an agitation from Monday, demanding inclusion of the disabled in the Bill, scheduled to be passed in the Lok Sabha on the same day.
"He bluntly told us that nothing could be done now and the Bill could not be delayed at any cost. He also said there was no money for this," said Javed Abidi of the Disability Rights Group.
The earlier draft of the Bill had made specific mention of children with disabilities. The Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha has erased those references, activists say.
The Bill does talk of children covered by the Disability Act of 1995. Thus, excluding children with mental and learning disabilities covered by the National Trust Act. Chapter 2 of the Bill states, "Provided that a child suffering from disability, as defined in clause (i) of section 2 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection and Full Participation) Act, 1996, shall have the right to pursue free and compulsory elementary education in accordance with the provisions of Chapter V of the said Act.' The implications of this is: Children with disabilities are excluded from the Right to Education Act, an Act that really should cover all children, says Abidi.
Where the new Bill defines 'school', it does not mention special schools or other infrastructure required for teaching students with disabilities.
"This Bill must be stopped or a grave injustice would be done to millions of children with disabilities," says Abidi. At present, just two per cent of such children get education, the disability groups say.
Mithu Alur, chairman of the Spastics Society of India, said Sibal has justified the exclusion of the disabled by saying there was no money for them. But that is not true, as the Eleventh Plan has set aside three per cent of the budget of every ministry for the disabled. There is a disconnect between the intentions of the government and what the education minister is saying.
Activists said there were feelers from the government that it might come out with a notification later and amend the Bill, but it had to be passed on Monday and cannot be delayed.
Activists said these go to prove that the disabled are low priority for the government.
Ironically, India was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in October 2007, which says "State parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education or from secondary education on the basis of disability."