Lok Sabha Question No. 3127 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-20
Subject: Education of Children Suffering from Cerebral Palsy/ASD/Mental Disability
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Vishnu Dayal Ram

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3127

ANSWERED ON 20.03.2023

## Education of Children Suffering from Cerebral Palsy/ASD/Mental Disability

## 3127. SHRI VISHNU DATT SHARMA:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether there are adequate specialised arrangements in terms of physical infrastructure and human resource for education of nearly 2.2 million children suffering from Cerebral Palsy and another 2 million suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and also for millions of other children suffering from different kinds of mental disabilities;

- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  to  (c)  The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha  launched  in  2018-19,  has dedicated  Inclusive  Education  component  for  the  education  of  Children  with  Special  Needs (CwSN)  covering  all  CwSN  with  one  or  more  disabilities  as  mentioned  in  the  schedule  of disabilities of the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 including cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder and Mental behaviour. It aims to look at education of CwSN in a continuum from Pre-Nursery to Class XII studying in Government, Government-aided and local body schools.

Through  this  component,  CwSN  are  provided  support  via  specific  student  oriented interventions  such  as  identification  and  assessment  camps,  provision  of  aids,  appliances  and assistive devices, transportation, scribe and escort allowance support, Braille books and large print  books  for  children  with  visual  impairment,  stipend  for  girls  with  special  needs  and teaching-learning  materials  etc.  in  order  to  appropriately  address  their  unique  educational requirements in general schools. Capacity building of general teachers and special educators on meeting learning needs to provide quality education to children with disabilities and improve their  learning  outcomes,  are  also  covered.    Further,  individualized  support  is  also  provided through therapeutic interventions at the block level.

The  focus  of  Samagra  Shiksha  is  on  providing  inclusive  education  to  children  with special  needs  wherein,  children  regardless  of  their  abilities/disabilities  participate  and  learn together in the same class, thus creating an enabling educational environment for all students.

Samagra Shiksha also has provisions for ramps and disabled friendly toilets for barrier free access to schools for all children.

Further, Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), has been setup under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 (No.34 of 1992) under the administrative control of the Ministry of

Social Justice and Empowerment,  Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan)  to  regulate  and  monitor  the  training  programmes  in  the  field  of  disability rehabilitation and special education, to promote research in disability rehabilitation and special education, to maintain a Central Rehabilitation Registration and for matter connected therewith or incidental thereto. The professional/personnel registered with RCI in the field of Cerebral Palsy, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disabilities are as under: -

| S. No.   | Course Name               |   Professional |   Personnel |   Total |
|----------|---------------------------|----------------|-------------|---------|
| 1.       | Cerebral Palsy            |             63 |        3017 |    3080 |
| 2.       | Autism Spectrum Disorders |             08 |        3305 |    3313 |
| 3.       | Intellectual Disabilities |          15960 |       37911 |   53871 |
|          | Total                     |          16031 |       44233 |   60264 |

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