{"id":223825,"date":"2023-01-25T21:20:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T15:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=223825"},"modified":"2023-02-20T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T09:41:20","slug":"developing-schools-without-barriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/developing-schools-without-barriers\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing schools without barriers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Source<\/strong>&#8211; The post is based on the article <strong>\u201cDeveloping schools without barriers\u201d <\/strong>published in<strong> The Hindu <\/strong>on <strong>25th January 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Syllabus: <\/strong>GS2- Vulnerable action of the population<\/p>\n<p><strong>Relevance<\/strong>&#8211; Issue related to disabled children<\/p>\n<p><strong>News<\/strong>&#8211; The article explains the challenges faced by disabled children. It also explains various <strong>national and international initiatives<\/strong> that provide educational access to disabled children. It also suggests some solutions for providing <strong>more educational access <\/strong>to these children.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the challenges faced by children with disabilities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A <strong>UNESCO 2019 report<\/strong> mentioned that children with disabilities comprise 1.7% of the total child population in India. They are faced with <strong>physical, institutional, socioeconomic and communication barriers<\/strong> from an early age.<\/p>\n<p>As per the report, <strong>more than 70% of five-year-olds <\/strong>with disabilities in India have never attended any educational institution.<\/p>\n<p>Several barriers impede the participation of CWD in accessing educational opportunities These are <strong>inaccessible school buses; inaccessible facilities in schools<\/strong> like drinking water facilities, canteens and toilets.<\/p>\n<p>There is <strong>inappropriate infrastructure<\/strong> in classrooms like uncomfortable seating, slippery flooring and low illumination.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Misinformed attitudes and perceptions<\/strong> among parents, teachers, staff, and communities influences the child\u2019s emotional development.<\/p>\n<p>There is a lack of <strong>teaching and learning practices<\/strong> that integrate inclusive technologies and digital equipment to engage the child.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are the constitutional provisions, government intervention and international instruments that promote education for disabled children?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Article 21A of the Constitution<\/strong> and the <strong>Right to Education Act, 2009<\/strong> outline the fundamental right to education and the <strong>right to have free and compulsory education for children aged 6-14 years<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan<\/strong> has adopted a <strong>\u2018zero rejection policy\u2019<\/strong>. It emphasises that every child with special needs is provided quality education.<\/p>\n<p>India has ratified the <strong>UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities<\/strong>. The government launched the <strong>Accessible India Campaign in 2015<\/strong>. An important pillar of this campaign is <strong>accessibility to the built environment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the way forward to increase the educational opportunities for children with disabilities?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>There is a need to develop <strong>inclusive and accessible schools<\/strong>. They will not challenge <strong>perceptions <\/strong>about children with disabilities and the associated discrimination. It will also help in actualising the <strong>zero-rejection policy <\/strong>in schools.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>multi-pronged participatory approach<\/strong> for providing an <strong>enabling environment for the empowerment<\/strong> of future citizens is needed. It will ensure that <strong>stakeholders<\/strong> in the school ecosystem collectively work towards promoting <strong>accessibility and inclusion<\/strong> in schools.<\/p>\n<p>It includes <strong>awareness and sensitisation programmes<\/strong> for children, parents, and caregivers. Trainers are needed for <strong>upskilling<\/strong> of school faculty and special educators and providing <strong>access to updated teaching toolkits and materials.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is required to provide <strong>technical training<\/strong> to local government departments; and a<strong> co-learning platform for knowledge-sharing<\/strong> between all.<\/p>\n<p>Five principles of e<strong>quitability, usability and durability, affordability, cultural adaptability, and aesthetic appea<\/strong>l are of special importance. It should be embedded from the <strong>planning to implementation to evaluation stages<\/strong> of providing infrastructure services in schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source&#8211; The post is based on the article \u201cDeveloping schools without barriers\u201d published in The Hindu on 25th January 2023. Syllabus: GS2- Vulnerable action of the population Relevance&#8211; Issue related to disabled children News&#8211; The article explains the challenges faced by disabled children. It also explains various national and international initiatives that provide educational access&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/developing-schools-without-barriers\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Developing schools without barriers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[212,10498],"class_list":["post-223825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}