‘No out of schools kids’

SHILLONG, SEPT 16: According to the annual report of the office of the commissioner for persons with disabilities for 2013-14 and 2014-15 presented on the first day of the autumn session of the state assembly by Meghalaya social welfare minister Deborah C. Marak Meghalaya recorded “no out of school” Children with Special Needs (CWSN).

The annual report stated 12,793 Children with Special Needs, were identified in the state in 2014-15. Of these 8,177 of them were enrolled in schools as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) while 2,312 were covered through School Readiness Programme (SRP), and 2,304 through Home Based Education (HBE).

The children included those afflicted with low vision, blindness, hearing impaired, speech impaired, orthopaedic impairment, cerebral palsy, mentally retardation, learning disabilities, multiple disabilities and autism spectrum disorder.

Among the 12,793 children, 2,433 of them were afflicted with orthopaedic impairment while 2,205 of them were afflicted with hearing impairment.

Moreover, the report pointed out that there are 2,178 inclusive government schools. The schools include 2,112 elementary and 66 secondary and higher secondary schools. Besides, there are 12 “special schools”, of which, five are government-aided and the remaining, private.

In 2013-14, out of the 9,797 Children with Special Needs (CWSN) who were identified, 7,308 were enrolled in schools while 2,484 were covered through Home Based Education (HBE).- By Our Reporter