Rapidly falling enrollment of differently-abled candidates in Rajasthan

In the last 10 years alone, about 2 lakh 30 thousand children could not reach the doors of the schools. Let us tell you that since 10 years, the graph of special education in Rajasthan is going down rapidly. On the basis of UNESCO’s report and census, in the year 2011, the number of differently abled candidates in the state was more than 3 lakh, but due to lack of special teachers, more than 91 percent of the disabled candidates of the state have till date reached the school door. Haven’t seen till now.

On the other hand, due to lack of teachers as well as drop due to lack of arrangements, now the enrollment of differently-abled children in the state has been reduced to just 74 thousand in the session 2020-21 and in the last 5 years this drop out has increased by 36.30 percent. In the year 2015, there was an enrollment of about 1 lakh disabled students in the school.

The figures of drop out of disabled students are shocking in the state. In the last 5 years, where more than 42 thousand differently-abled students have left the school, in the last 10 years, more than 91 percent of the differently-abled children have not even seen the face of the school. These scary figures are coming out due to the presence of only 1326 special teachers in about 70 thousand schools of the state, while the number of drop outs is increasing continuously due to non-recruitment of special teachers for a long time.

In the Last 5 Years

In the last 5 years, the number of disabled candidates was more than 36%
The year 2015-16, the figure of disabled candidates reached 1 lakh 16 thousand 683
1 lakh 7 thousand 299 in the year 2016-17, 91 thousand 529 in the year 2017-18
So in the year 2018-19, the enrollment of differently-abled candidates fell to 70 thousand 641.
Only 1326 special teachers are serving in about 70 thousand schools of the state.

The above figures reveal shocking revelations. In 5 years from 2015 to 2021, 42361 i.e. 36.30 percent disabled children dropped out of school, according to UNESCO report and Census 2011, total school-able disabled children (aged between 5-19) in Rajasthan 3 lakh 6 thousand 750 Huh. Whereas in the current session 2020-21, only 74 thousand 322 disabled children are enrolled in schools, which means that 75.77 percent of the disabled children studying are still out of schools. According to UNESCO’s State of Education report, 31 percent of disabled children have never been able to reach the school door in Rajasthan.

In the absence of teachers in elementary education, children are not able to progress in further classes. Presently, the children with disabilities studying in secondary and higher secondary classes account for only 9 percent of the total enrolment, which means that 91 percent of disabled children are not able to complete elementary education. It is statutory under the Right to Education Act 2009 and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, to have a special teacher in every school to teach children with 21 types of disabilities in the state, but the irony is that there are about 70 thousand schools in Rajasthan. Only 1326 special teachers are working in this.