General News
Reflections on the Right to Education Bill and the inclusion of Children with Disabilities
RTE - was passed yesterday (4th Aug 2009) in the Lok Sabha - FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN BETWEEN 6-14 YEARS - is now a law of the land.
It was only after a lot of noise created by disability activist that the concerns of inclusion of children with disabilities in this Bill came to the limelight. The question that haunts is "Why should it always be this way - why should we fight to get included?"
Initially during the final negotiations (around 30th Jul 2009), Mr. Kapil Sibal, Minister HRD was reluctant to even listen to the demands of persons with disabilities and the Disability Rights Group - his ideas was of setting up alternate institutions for children with disabilities - which is against the principles of inclusion that has been universally accepted - and secondly according to what he said - including children with disabilities would cost more for the exchequer.
This response from the Minister HRD - ignited the fire across the country - dharnas (demonstrations) were organised in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and in other places - press notes were circulated by disability activists - the media extended their full support for this cause - news items was published in the print media, electronic media - TV, Internet, etc
In conjunction to this efforts on the 3rd Aug 2009, the members of the Disability Rights Group met the Prime Minister and Smt. Sonia Gandhi. Both of whom were keen listeners and readily agreed to address the lacunae in the RTE Bill. The Prime Minister called on Mr. Kapil Sibal and instructed him to factor the inclusion of children with disabilities in the RTE Bill.
The RTE Bill was tabled on 4th Aug 2009, nothing was changed in the Bill. However during the presentation and discussions related to the Bill - Kapil Sibal mentioned many times over that the Bill does include Children with Disabilities. He informed that the definition of Disability in the Bill will be automatically updated in the near future - when the Persons with Disabilities Act will get amended. Children with autism, cerebral palsy and other groups who have not been explicitly mentioned in the current Persons with Disabilities Act will get include.
If in case during the actual implementation of the RTE Bill - children with disabilities are discriminated - the assurances of the Prime Minister, the assurances from the Mr. Kapil Sibal during the tabling of the Bill and discussions of the need to include children with disabilities during the tabling of the Bill are recorded and available as evidences.
The whole hearted support from the media and the different articles are more evidences to this.
The important learning for the Disability Sector who are fighting (literally) for inclusion - is keep up the struggle, the time has come to regroup and activate different Disability Rights Groups at the State/ District/ Taluk levels - we have to remind ourselves that the struggle is far from over - The Persons with Disabilities Act is going to be amended shortly (before the end of 2009) - we have to come together once again in ensuring that the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities are protected - and that the amendments to the Persons with Disabilities Act are in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - for which India is amongst the first countries to sign and ratify.
Additional Information
Country: India
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Source: C. Mahesh, Advocacy Coordinator CBR Forum
When: 13/8/2009
