Lok Sabha Question No. 244 (STARRED), answered on 2022-03-21
Subject: Online Classes for Differently Abled Students
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

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

## LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 244 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2022

## Online Classes for Differently Abled Students

## 244. SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  the  struggles  faced  by  differently  abled students in accessing online classes;
- (b) if so, the action taken thereon to increase their accessibility to quality education;
- (c) whether  the  drop-out  ratio  among  differently  abled  students  has  increased  since  2020, owing to COVID-19 pandemic; and
- (d) if so, the action taken by the Government with regard to alter the mode of education to make it more inclusive?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY (A) TO (D) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 244 FOR 21.03.2022ASKED BY SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI, HON'BLE  MP  REGARDING  'ONLINE  CLASSES  FOR  DIFFERENTLY  ABLED STUDENTS'.

(a) & (b) Education being in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, the state governments/ UTs  have  been  advised  by  Ministry  of  Education  through  policy  interventions,  guidelines, creation of e-content on electronic devices viz. laptop/desktop, mobile, television, etc. developed and  disseminated  by  NCERT  and  SCERTs  through  PM  eVIDYA,  DTH-TV  channels  (One Class,  One  Channel),  All  India  Radio,  Community  radio  channels,  DIKSHA  portal  etc.,  to increase  the  accessibility  to  quality  education.  NEP  (2020)  also  recommends  extensive  use  of digital  technology  to  provide  accessible  content  to  Children  with  Special  Needs  (CwSN).A comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated which unifies all efforts related to digital/ online/ on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education.

(c) to (d) Samagra  Shiksha  -  An  Integrated  Scheme  on  School  Education  envisages  the 'school'  as  a  continuum  from  pre-school,  primary,  upper  primary,  secondary  to  Senior Secondary levels. The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage. The Scheme envisages to achieve Universal Access, Equity  and  Quality,  promoting  Vocationalisation  of  Education  and  strengthening  of  Teacher Education Institutions  (TEIs).  Samagra Shiksha also  aims to look at education of CWSN in a continuum from pre-school to class XII. The scheme covers all children with special needs with one or more disabilities as mentioned in the schedule of disabilities of the Right of the Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 studying in Government, Government-aided and local body schools.

Under Inclusive Education (IE) component of Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided for all the enrolled CwSN and the ones receiving home based education services for sub-activities, which includes 1) environment building programme, 2) development of Learning materials,  3)  provision  of  TLMs,  4)  assistive  devices,  aids  and  equipment,  5)  therapeutic services,  6)  orientation  of  education  administrators,  Principals,  teachers  ,  parents/care-givers, peer groups, 7) distribution of aids and appliances, 8) therapeutic services, 9) escort allowances, 10)  transport allowances to ensure the access of CwSN to schools, 11) support of helpers/ayaas in the schools and resource rooms to cater the specific needs, 12) sports and exposure events to promote the social inclusion of CwSN etc. which helps in retention of CwSN

Financial assistance is also provided to States and UTs for undertakingidentification and assessment  of  children  with  special needs, aids and  appliances, braille kits  and  books, appropriate  teaching  learning  material  and  stipend  to  girl  students  with  disability  etc.for universalization of school education/ reducing dropout of children including CWSN.

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the education system not only in India but  also  in  countries  across  the  world  due  to  closure  of  schools.  This  also  lead  to  a  situation where  the  Centre,  States  and  educational  institutions  had  to  adopt  online  technologies  and Blended  Mode  of  Education  at  a  very  rapid  pace  to  ensure  continued  education  of  the students.

The e-contents are supplementing the regular classroom transactions by assisting teachers with UDL based resources to be used in the teaching-learning process. Notably, these resources are  also  created  to  aid  the  children  in  adapting  to  regular  schools  and  encouraging  inclusive classrooms. Also, it will help us move towards achieving complete inclusive learning with the standards  as  recommended  in  the  guidelines  for  the  better  educational  and  professional development of all children with disabilities.

*****