Education of children with disabilities in New Delhi: When does exclusion occur?

Abstract

In the new Sustainable Development Goal 4, quality of education defined as equity and inclusion alongside traditional learning outcomes, has replaced the narrow goal of access to primary education stipulated in the Millennium Development Goal 2. Since 2000, considerable progress has been made towards improving access to school for children in India, yet questions remain regarding not just children with disabilities’ access and acquisition of basic learning skills, but also completion of learning cycles. The researchers interviewed 1294 households about activity limitations and functioning difficulties associated with a health problem among all family members using a validated screening instruments, as well as questions about access, retention and barriers to education. They found that vulnerable children, particularly children with disabilities are less likely to start school and more likely to drop out of school earlier and before completing their high school education than non-disabled children, showing that the learning process is not inclusive in practice. The gap is wider for girls, economically deprived children, or children from households where the head is uneducated. This works was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council-Department for International Development (ESRC-DFID) Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme