Vijayawada: Gross indifference is evident vis-a-vis the needs of differently abled children in both the Telugu states. Though various legislations direct the respective governments to provide education facilities for children with special needs, there seems to be little action in this regard. Only four such schools exist in Andhra Pradesh -- at Hindupur, Chirala, Vizag and Vizianagaram. Seven exist in Telangana.
Even these schools are only for the blind, deaf and orthopaedic disabilities. Not a single school caters to children suffering from mental disabilities like dyslexia, autism and cerebral palsy.
According to Special Educators’ Federation general-secretary Gummala Babu, nearly 2 lakh children are suffering from various disabilities out of which 1.3 lakh children have mental disabilities. They are completely neglected by the state government.
The only education these children get is through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) volunteers.“Instead of setting up special schools, the state governments should run one Bavitha Centre for every three mandals. The primary focus of these centres is to give primary education to children with the special needs for two years and enable them join regular schools, which is not happening. Enrolment of students with mental disability at regular schools is almost zero,” Mr Babu said.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also failed to recruit special educators for which the Union government is giving full funds. The Centre sanctioned 860 special educator posts for AP and the same was cleared by the state Cabinet on July 14, 2015.
But the government has not issued a notification to recruit these special educators till today. The situation is similar in Telangana too. According to activist N. Ramakrishna, nearly 1.3 lakh children in the state have special needs.
In every mandal, there are 200-500 children with special needs. At present, only two educators are available for every three mandals.
He also said that the government has left the fate of such children to NGOs.
Mr Ramakrishna alleged that a lot of misappropriation of funds under SSA is taking place in the guise of giving education to children with special needs.
