NEW DELHI: An elite ruling think tank has pitched for disabled children to attend regular school as against schools for special students. The National Advisory Council (NAC), which is headed by ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and is made up of intellectuals, civil society professionals and intelligentsia has also demanded that the Right to Education legislation should not just cover normal children alone, but should also have special students in its ambit. “The HRD ministry should amend the act to ensure that the RTE to all children with disabilities is safeguarded and that the choice to such children to study in an inclusive school or a special school is real,” an initial draft guidelines formulated by the NAC's working group on the rights of the disabled has said. “Segregating children with disability perpetuates stereotyping and lack of understanding of the difference, leading to discrimination in all areas of life,” the draft further read. The NAC observed that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act extended to all children, including the disabled, something which the RTE, a high pedigree legislation promoted by the ruling Congress party, has till date not specifically made a mention of. The NAC has further asked the Government of India to ensure that the RTE Act indicates well laid down norms for the qualification of teachers in special schools and further that it indicate norms for special schools and the maximum distance it should be from a disabled person's home thus being easily accessible. They have also asked the government to put down the level at which these would be available to the disabled. According to government figures the country is home to nearly 22 million disabled people many of whom are living in rural villages with no access to special education and are even in some cases looked upon as being possessed by evil spirits and other superstitious beliefs. Some are even worshipped as being incarnations of the gods.
