Lakhs of disabled students unable to cope with online education; at risk of school dropout

Amid the pandemic which has compelled educational institutions to turn towards imparting education online, a survey has revealed that children with disabilities from several states across the country are facing difficulties to cope with the transition and are at risk of dropping out of schools. Unable to cope with online education, around 43 lakh disabled students across states may drop out.

A community-based organisation and Disability Legislation Unit of Eastern India named Swabhiman, and partner of Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR) working for the rights of disabled people, especially children found it in the surveys conducted by them, wherein children with disability showed vulnerability for the transition towards going digital.

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Report reveals issues about disabled students

The report, ‘Digital Education in India: Will students with disabilities miss the bus’ was released to the media on July 23.

Dr Sruti Mohapatra, Founder of Swabhiman said, “An underlying reality was that children from government schools belonged to poor families, and a large proportion of them were not users or owners of smartphones which are being used for online education. A total of the survey conducted, taking about 10 states of India and Odisha we found that 43 percent of the children (out of one crore) will be dropping out of schools.”

Mohapatra said Swabhiman started thinking about the physically challenged people as to how they would adopt or respond to the drastically changing situation when the government was making preparations to tackle COVID-19 situation.

“We had to plan about how they would be able to understand all the safety precautions and they should also be a part of government’s relief works,” she added.

Mohapatra believes online or remote learning is not for this category of students.

“This category of people is being neglected. In two big surveys, we gave questionnaires to students, parents and teachers. We also held a few interviews and discussions,” she said.

“When we talk about them, the number is huge. It is close to some crores,” she added.

Manisha Priyadarshini, a physically-disabled student from a slum in Bhubaneswar said, “I am physically disabled since childhood. I am facing huge difficulty to access online classes as there is no network in this area. It is easy for us to clear our doubts when the teacher is present physically.”

(With ANI inputs)

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