Tag Archives for Children

How families and coteries are ruining disabled sports in India

The disability sports sector in India seems to be in gross disarray with the administration of the sector in the stranglehold of a coterie of people who seem to have no interest in either the disabled or in sports. National disabled sporting federations seem to be run like mom-and-pop outfits with hardly any national character.Yet, not only does the sports ministry seem blind to such obvious  mismanagement, it  seems to be actively funding and perpetuating these outfits shelling out public money in crores every year to these organisations in the name of promoting sports for the disabled.

The rot seems to start right from the apex body of disability sports, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). The PCI is headed by the president Ratan Singh whose son Amar Singh is the vice-president.  Amar Singh’s son, Raghavendra Singh is an escort or so-called professional masseuse for disabled sports teams. He is too young with no professional qualification to be a sports masseur. Yet, he gets selected, despite qualified persons in sports medicine with  professional training in sports massage being  available, says a disabled sportsperson on conditions of anonymity. Sportspersons are scared of speaking out against the office bearers who have a vice-like grip over their sporting  careers, a threat they seem to use to good  effect in keeping them from protesting.

When contacted, Ratan Singh admitted to the problem of office bearers signing up as escorts and managers.  “Office bearers accompany teams as they can sort out any problem easily. I can do little about this. But as you can see, my son and I are not signed up for any team. My grandson is there for being a qualified masseuse. I did not make the selection,” said Singh.

Every single office bearer of PCI has listed himself as manager or escort with various teams accompanying them to countries   like the US, Germany, Malaysia, Taiwan, Australia, Spain and so on. KR Shankar Iyer, the treasurer of PCI, is listed as an escort for the athletics and volleyball teams and manager for the wheelchair fencing team. CV Raghunath,
administrator of PCI, is listed as an escort for athletics, volleyball and the powerlifting teams. M Mahadev, the secretary of the PCI, is listed to accompany the athletics and volleyball teams.

The office bearers of national federations for each sport do what is done in PCI, which is to list themselves as escorts and managers or appoint themselves as the coach and take their wives along as escorts. Quite understandably, these so-called coaches, managers and escorts are of little help to the disabled sportspeople when they go abroad as they are allegedly too busy on jaunts and sightseeing with their wives and  friends who accompany them as team escorts.  Each so-called national federation is single-city based, filled with people from the same city and no national representation. For instance, powerlifting is run from Nagpur, swimming from Gwalior and athletics from Bangalore. The PCI, the overarching national body for all disability sports is controlled by a bunch of people in Bangalore.

The selection of sportspersons from all over the country for different sports is decided by small coteries of people of one city and allegations of irregularities in selection are common. It is the sportspersons who suffer the consequences of such mismanagement. Last month, the athletics team that was supposed to be in Germany for an international meet could not go as those responsible did not apply for the visa in time.

Most teams don’t even have basic sports equipment such as the swimming team not have approved swimming costumes or the table tennis team does not have wheelchairs.

Despite these malpractices being pretty obvious in the team lists for each sport submitted by PCI to the ministry as Long Term Development Plan 2010, the sports ministry seems oblivious to it and the allocation to these federations has been rising steadily every year going from about Rs 10 lakh in 2005 to over Rs 5 crore in 2010.

(Source: Long  Term Development Plan 2010 submitted by PCI to sports  ministry)

List of office bearers of various sports

ATHLETICS

  • Raghavendra Singh, escort: Grandson of PCI president, Ratan Singh and son of Amar Singh, PCI vice-president
  • M Mahadev, team manager: Secretary of PCI
  • David Premnath, coach: General secretary of Wheelchair Basketball Federation of India
  • CV Raghunath, escort: Administrator of PCI
  • Diana Joyline D’Souza, escort: Was personal secretary to PCI president
  • KR Shankar, escort: Treasurer of PCI

SWIMMING

  • VK Dabas, coach: Secretary of Paralympic Swimming Federation of India, also runs Paralympic Committee of Madhya Pradesh
  • Saroj Dabas, escort: Wife of VK Dabas
  • Suresh Kalra, escort: President of PSFI
  • Lalit Gupta, escort: Vice-president of PSFI

VOLLEYBALL

  • H Chandrashekar, cpach: Secretary of Volleyball Federation
  • M Mahadev, escort: Secretary of PCI
  • Chandrashekar, escort: Joint secretary of PCI

WHEELCHAIR FENCING

KR Shankar Iyer, manager: Treasurer of PCI

POWERLIFTING

  • Vijay B Munishwar, coach: President of Paralympic Powerlifting Federation and also runs Maharashtra State Paralympic Association
  • Deepali Munishwar, escort: Wife of Munishwar
  • CV Raghunath, escort: Administrator of PCI

TABLE TENNIS

  • R Murali, coach: Secretary of Paralympic TT Federation
  • Gopal Babu, escort: Member of executive committee, PTTFI
  • Shashikala Babu, escort: Wife of Gopal Babu
  • Satyanarayana, manager: President of PTTFI

EU development cooperation; does disability count?

Europe has declared 2010 to be the year against poverty and social exclusion. It is a good occasion to look at the European policy towards a group that knows only too well what poverty and social exclusion mean: people in developing countries living with a disability. Does European development aid reach people like Lila Maya in Nepal, who became blind as a baby and was isolated and mistreated until a local NGO helped her set up her business? Or Ricardo in Mozambique, who never went to school because of his paralyzed legs?

A vicious cycle
Poverty, exclusion and disability are interrelated. Poverty causes disability, because it means that people do not have access to health facilities, information and adequate food that could prevent a simple disease to develop into a disability. With proper treatment, Lila Maya might have not become blind. Disability in its turn causes poverty, because practical problems and social stigma exclude people with a disability from education and work to earn their own living. Ricardo makes a little money by repairing the clothes of his neighbours, but what would his life have looked like, if he had had access to school and a wheel chair?  According to the United Nations 650 million people live with a disability and 80% of those live in developing countries[1]. The European Union is a major player in development cooperation; it provides over half of all official development assistance worldwide[2]. An inclusive development policy of the EU can therefore really make a difference for people with a disability.
Beyond good intentions
In 2009 the EU ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It is a legally binding convention which stresses the importance of international cooperation and states that countries should ensure that: ‘that international cooperation, including international development programmes, is inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities’[3]. This means that, besides and above the good intentions which the EU expresses by announcing a Year against poverty and social exclusion, it has is a legal obligation to ensure that development cooperation reaches people with a disability. The Convention is an important landmark signalling a change in attitude.  In stead of talking about the handicapped who need to be cared for, people with a disability are now recognized as persons who have the right to participate in all aspects of society. Only countries that have ratified the Convention are bound to it. The EU already took this important step, but a number of European countries such as Norway, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy are still missing on the list.
Towards an inclusive European development policy
Europe has shown its commitment to the rights of the Lila Maya’s and Ricardo’s in the world. But to make sure they can
really benefit from European aid, more steps need to be taken.
  • Ratify: More countries should ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This will show their real commitment and helps to make sure that we will come from good intentions to realization of rights. The EU should urge those member states that have not done so yet, to ratify the Convention as soon as possible. Together, the European countries can encourage other countries to ratify and of course to implement the  Convention.
  • Plan: The start of implementation is developing a good plan. A quick scan of relevant EU policy documents on disability and development does not give much hope. The Commission Work Programme 2010 refers to disability only once, in an annex and not in relation to development. The General development framework, makes no mention of disability at all. The Guidance Note on Disability and Development, published in 2004 by the European Commission[4] provides a number of useful principles, but apparently these are not put into practice. A good sign is that the Directorate General Development is considering to add disability to the list of ‘cross cutting’ issues. Recognizing disability as a cross cutting theme will help to ensure that attention will be paid to disability in all development activities: ‘mainstreaming’ disability. Already, the EU requires applicants of development grants to explain how the grant will benefit people with a disability. Besides mainstreaming disability in development activities, the EU will need to facilitate disability-specific services and support for disabled persons to empower themselves and to get access to mainstream services.
  • Learn: Developing such a plan is not easy. Implementing it will be even more challenging. Mainstreaming disability is a new concept and there are no studies yet that prove which strategies are successful. A lot can be learned from the experiences regarding gender and development. It is also important to do research regarding disability and development. Lessons should be drawn from good and bad experiences, to improve future  policies.
  • Measure. To know if efforts are effectively reaching people with a disability, it is important to collect data before, during and after interventions. How many people with a disability are living in the project area? Which disabilities do they have and how does this affect their ability to benefit from development efforts? Targets will need to be set on how many people with a disability will be reached by a certain effort. In most cases, the required data will be unavailable. People with a disability are not counted and therefore cannot be accounted for. Starting to collect these data will make them visible. This will require ‘disaggregation’ of data: asking projects to report on how many of the people they are people with a disability, just as they are often required to do regarding women and youth.
  • Involve. Last but certainly not least,  people with a disability should be involved in all the above. ‘Nothing about us without us’ is the adagio of the disability movement.
[1] UN 2006, Some facts about persons with disabilities, http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/facts.shtml

Published by: Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD) -Saskia Bakker

Children need own Bill of Rights

I am a 69-year-old man. During my lifetime I have seen several groups of citizens seek and obtain increased rights. I remember the rights quest like this: civil rights, prisoner rights, voting rights, women’s rights and disability rights. While many citizens were increasing their rights, children have been steadily losing their rights. Consider this: More and more children are being born into single-parent homes. This is bad. Children need the support and guidance of both parents.

More and more children are requiring government assistance for the basic necessities of life. This is bad. Our government cannot provide an adequate living for an ever-increasing number of needy children. Children’s parents must be the primary providers for their children. More and more children have divorced parents. This is bad. The mean spirit that very often develops between divorced parents is not good for children. Children need their own Bill of Rights. This document should give details for a minimum standard of care for a child. Parents who do not provide this minimum standard of care for their children should be treated as lawbreakers. Many of our children have become second-class citizens and this is a crying shame.

David Shaner Wetumpka

Montgomeryadvertiser.com

Disability law: Hunger strike called off

After the Centre partially conceded their demands, a group of disabled people on Wednesday called off their hunger strike held to protest against their poor representation on a committee which is drafting a new law to protect their rights.  Javed Abidi, convenor of the Disabled Rights Group, said the strike had been called off after the Centre’s positive response.

A S Narayanan, secretary of the National Association of the Deaf, told The Indian Express through a translator that Gopal Reddy, personal secretary to Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik, had confirmed that six more people would be added to the committee, of whom three were disabled. This would bring the total number of disabled people on the committee to six.  Following pressure from various disabled groups, the Social Justice And Empowerment Ministry had formed a committee in April to draft a new legislation, reflecting the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to replace the Disability Act, 1995. The first meeting of the committee will be held on Thursday.

Disability activists are looking for three main changes to the Act.

VINAY SITAPATI
Indian Express

Student Forum Reclaims Radical Disability Studies

By Miriam Berger, Assistant Features Editor

At a University where classes such as “Gender in a Transnational Perspective” and “Ethnographic Approaches to Queer Studies” have moved towards the mainstream, Allegra Stout ’12 nevertheless felt that something was missing.  “I’ve been interested in disability studies for a long time,” Stout said. “A lot of classes have disability as a side note, but I wanted a more focused way to look at it.”  Disability studies—an inter-disciplinary field that approaches disability as a key aspect of human experience and identity with important political, social and economic implications—will now be redeemed from its sidebar status in a new student forum led by Stout, as well as Ariel Schwartz ’12, and Meredith Holmes ’10, that meets Thursdays from 1:10 p.m. to 4 p.m.  “We are going to look at disabilities the way that everyone looks at race and gender,” Stout said. “The forum will study people with disabilities as a marginalized oppressed group and seek to create social theories about that experience.”  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 defines a disability as a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual.”  Under the ADA, Americans with disabilities are afforded similar protections against discrimination as the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.  According to Schwartz, disability studies have developed over the last few decades as a more theoretical approach to embodiment and the experience of having a disability.  “When you volunteer for the special Olympics, it’s not the same as looking at the issue from a social science, oppression based way,” Schwartz said.

The discussion-based forum, which requires about sixty to eighty pages of reading a week, is intentionally flexible to accommodate different learning styles and creative pursuits. Each of the eight participants is required to lead one class, submit several papers, and complete a final project.  One component of the discipline is the social model theory of disability.  “The idea is that instead of the traditional medical view of disability in which there is something internally wrong with a person, the social model locates a person in the interaction between him or herself and a society that isn’t set up for them,” Schwartz said. “It’s not that your leg is broken, but that society is disabling you.”  “Crip theory,” another element of disability studies, was developed in connection with queer theory and addresses the oppressive normalizing forces of society that shape the experience of disabled embodiment.  According to Sheila Mullens, Visiting Instructor in American Sign Language, this forum is part of a wider academic movement.  “There is such a need in advocacy, law, and education for an approach like this,” said Mullens, who incorporates lessons on deaf issues into her second year sign language course. “I think that this is a wonderful beginning. It is an important part of the community.”  Across the country, institutions such as Teachers College of Columbia University, University of California at Berkeley, and Temple University, have all instituted disabilities studies programs on both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Schwartz urged Wesleyan to consider taking a similar path.  “There are a lot of classes that deal with disabilities tangentially,” Schwartz said, noting in particular American Sign Language, Psychotherapy Pathology, Ethics of Embodiment, and the Psychology of Gender. “I easily counted 10 classes that could fit under a disability class course structure.”  Stout has a similar aspiration.  “In the same way that a few decades ago women studies and female, gender, and sexuality studies (FGSS) didn’t exist, disability studies are a new, rapidly growing discipline.” Stout said. “I hope that this student forum will lead to interest in more professors and classes specializing in this field.”  Such was the case for Emily Wenzel ’10, who had no prior exposure to these theories before hearing from Holmes about the forum.  “I think that it’s interesting to look at, or attempt to look at, these experiences through someone else’s perceptive who deals with these considerations everyday,” Wenzel said.  Wenzel, whose brother was disabled in an accident, found the open environment of the forum ideal for discussing topics, such as the appropriate terms to use for identification, often hesitantly approached in other courses. For Crystal Abbott ’10 this forum provided the opportunity to build upon previous activism.

“I’ve been involved in the autistic community for some time,” said Abbott, who is autistic. “Disability activism is something that I intend to be involved with all of my life. I see this forum as a resource for me to get a deeper academic knowledge about disability activism and history.”  Stout originally presented the idea for the forum during a meeting of Wesleyan Students for Disabilities Rights, a group that she founded last fall as a freshman. Stout, Schwartz, and Holmes all attributed their interest in this field to personal influences, such as the experience of a family member with a disability or positive volunteer encounters.  Stout, however, stressed that disability studies is not an all-encompassing term.  “Disability studies does not include everything that deals with disabilities,” Stout said. “It is opposed to some approaches to disabilities, such as organizations, medical practices, and charities that evoke pity.”  She echoed Schwartz’s sentiments that volunteering should not merely be about the volunteer helping the person with disabilities, but rather should accentuate the strengths of both parties in order for each individual to gain from the perspective of the other.

While the forum’s facilitators lauded the University’s attempts to increase the accessibility of campus, such as the recent wheel chair ramp installed at 200 Church, they noted that a wider campus awareness of these issues is still needed.  “Accessibility isn’t just about ramps,” Schwartz said. “It’s about lighting, about the way people teach, and a million other everyday things.”

Wesleyan Students for Disability Rights meets on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. in Usdan 114. Students can contact Allegra Stout (astout@wesleyan.edu) for more information on the forum or about the group’s campus work.

President Obama & Sec. Clinton Speak on Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities

On the 19th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the President and Secretary of State laud the signing of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Proclamation. July 24, 2009. (public domain)

Education is Challenger’s challenge

L.A. County’s largest detention center is failing at its basic job: rehabilitating the youths confined there.

By Mark Rosenbaum, Laura Faer and Shawna L. Parks

January 25, 2010

Challenger Memorial Youth Center in Lancaster is both Los Angeles County’s largest juvenile detention camp and its greatest failure.  It costs as much as $50,000 a year to house a youth at Challenger — about the same amount as tuition and room and board at an Ivy League university. But that’s where the comparison ends. The facility’s school is appalling, with 95% of its students scoring below proficiency on state exams.  Challenger is the target of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into mistreatment and poor supervision of the 650 students housed at the facility’s six juvenile camps. It was cited in a 2009 county Probation Commission report as operating a “broken” school system. And this month, our coalition of nonprofit organizations filed a lawsuit asking that the county be ordered to meet at least minimum standards in educating our community’s most at-risk youth.

A young man we identify in court papers as Casey A. was kept in custody at Challenger during his high school years and given a high school diploma late last year, despite being unable to read or write. Rather than coming up with a strategy that would teach him to read, a teacher at Challenger appointed a “para-educator” to read assignments out loud to him. Knowing that Casey was illiterate, the staff fed him answers so that he could pass the required state exams.  Miguel B., another student who was at Challenger for much of the last year, was confined for more than two months in a solitary cell containing only a cot. During this time, the school provided him with two hours or less of educational instruction per day. He was also denied access to textbooks, physical education and time outdoors — all in violation of the law. On some days, he received no educational instruction at all. On other days, his instruction consisted of nothing more than copies of school materials shoved under his cell door. On those days, he never saw a teacher or had any interaction with other students.

These stories are not isolated examples. Students at the facility are routinely excluded from class without cause or proper procedure. Teachers miss class without explanation or show up late without consequences. Students have been punished simply for asking for basic educational services. Despite the high incidence of reading deficits among students housed at Challenger, the school fails to systematically screen students for reading problems, and the staff is not trained to intervene effectively when problems are identified. Those who can read often do not have access to textbooks. Students are sometimes punished by having to stand outside for hours in 100-degree heat during the school day. They are shown movies in lieu of instruction. It is commonplace at Challenger that students do not receive even the state-required minimum amount of instructional time.  Many of the kids held at the facility already face incredible challenges. Although they often have the tough demeanor that comes from growing up in tough circumstances, many of them do want to learn.  But they are at severe risk, and research has shown again and again that those who leave high school without having mastered basic reading and math skills are far more likely to commit crimes and be incarcerated as adults. More than 80% of prison inmates are high school dropouts, and a high percentage are unable to read. In California, we spend billions each year on adult prisons and incarcerate about 150,000 people.

Studies have also shown, though, that when juvenile facilities focus on rehabilitation and literacy, they can dramatically reduce recidivism. Moreover, there are proven and well-known educational strategies and methods to address the learning needs of even the most challenged youth.  Giving these kids a good education is not just good policy: It’s the law. State law mandates that juvenile detention facilities in California, including county probation camps like Challenger, exist solely to rehabilitate, not to punish. Our theory of juvenile justice is predicated on facilitating a second chance. At Challenger, by denying kids the most important tool they need to succeed, the county of Los Angeles makes virtually certain kids don’t get that chance.  It is time for the county to swiftly and comprehensively address these violations. It needs to bring in personnel and experts who can turn a dysfunctional system around and start actually educating kids in desperate need. With every day that passes, more children are needlessly lost.

Mark Rosenbaum is chief counsel at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. Laura Faer is the directing attorney of the Children’s Rights Project at Public Counsel. Shawna L. Parks is the legal director at the Disability Rights Legal Center.

Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Locals pitch in to help develop Web site for the disabled

By Tish Butts
Published:Saturday, January 16, 2010 2:13 AM CST

An informational database is being developed to aid thousands of Mississippians living with disabilities in finding programs that accommodate their needs.  The site is expected to start up in the spring.  The River 5 team of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps worked with O’Keefe Educational Media of Gulfport to build Disability Connection, a database of almost 2,000 resources that offers services for daily living, health care, recreation, travel, support and mental wellness — as well as a social networking component for people with disabilities, AmeriCorps Community Relations Specialist Erika Roberts said.  The team worked with the directors of OEM to add contact information for other nonprofit organizations that will be made available.  Team member Jacob Dvorak, 21, of Florida, who recently found out that Attention Deficit Disorder is a disability, said he was able to contribute tools to help those who suffer from ADD.

Another team member, Summer Hasan, 20, of Texas, said people with disabilities often don’t know about programs or their availability from one county to the next. The idea is to connect them “with things they need,” she said.  The Internet resource center is designed to accommodate anyone with disabilities and allow for the addition of resources, Roberts said.  Janie O’Keefe, who founded the nonprofit organization with her husband, James O’Keefe, in 2002, set out to build the database after meeting a 35-year-old man in a wheelchair who had been homebound for 14 years.  “Many Americans are faced with disability issues within their families, friends and community,” she said.” In 2007, in Mississippi alone, an estimated 548,000 people age 5 and older were recorded as having a disability. That was 20.7 percent of the population.”  O’Keefe began her journey in 2003 by contacting the Harrison County Development Commission, Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau and Biloxi City Hall, but found that a list of activities for people with disabilities was not available. Efforts of OEM met setbacks in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina destroyed work on an educational film project, Roberts said. The O’Keefes then turned to the Internet to reach a larger audience.  While working with the team at the NCCC Southern Region Campus on Confederate Avenue in Vicksburg from Nov. 29 through mid-December, O’Keefe welcomed donations from Walmart and Ameristar Casino to help make the project possible.  Bess Averett, public relations manager for Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg, said the Washington Street business donates either service or funding to several large projects each year where they can “do the most good.”  “It’s always nice to be a part of a bigger project,” she said.

She said providing O’Keefe with lodging and meals for about 18 nights was an easy “yes” for the company founded by Craig Hart Neilsen, who was paralyzed in a car wreck in 1984 while driving from Nevada to Idaho.  He established The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation in 2003 to support research in finding a cure for spinal cord injuries and disease, as well as funding rehabilitation programs for those afflicted. Neilsen died in 2006.  O’Keefe said she has been considering working with another NCCC team in March to complete the project.  NCCC inducted 160 members ages 18-24 in September to serve 11 Southern states — West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi.  In mid-December, the teams finished their second round of projects. They serve in recovery, disaster preparation, public safety, response, environmental conservation and education.  Other regional campuses are in Denver, Colo.; Sacramento, Calif.; Perry Point, Md.; and Vinton, Iowa.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com

Simpler disability rule

New Delhi, Jan. 14: The government has decided to simplify the process of issuing disability certificates through a slew of steps that would among other things relieve disadvantaged people in rural areas of the trouble of making long, “cumbersome” trips.  The social justice ministry has decided to let doctors at primary health centres issue disability certificates to those with visible handicaps such as blindness, amputations and paralysis of limbs. At present, a person with disabilities has to travel to district headquarters to get such a certificate from a medical board comprising a civil surgeon and an expert on disability.  Ministry sources said the plan would be of great help to the country’s 2.19 crore disabled, including those with mental illnesses, who make up 2.13 per cent of India’s population. The disability certificate is crucial for a disadvantaged person as it makes him or her eligible to apply for facilities, concessions and benefits under schemes of governments or non-government organisations.

“Disabled people, especially those from rural areas, had been finding it very difficult to get a disability certificate as they have to make trips to district headquarters. It has come to our notice that many disabled people in rural areas have been deciding not to get the certificate because of the cumbersome process involved. Hence we have decided to simplify the procedure,” said an official with the social justice ministry.  But those with complicated disabilities not easily discernible and which need to be assessed scientifically will still have to get the certificate from the district medical boards.  These include non-visible locomotor disabilities, cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, low vision, mental retardation, autism and mental illnesses. “Certain disabilities like hearing problems and autism cannot be assessed by a general physician. They (people with such disabilities) will have to go and get their problems certified by doctors at higher levels,” the official said.

But even in the case of people with such non-apparent disabilities the government has decided to make the process of getting a disability certificate easier.  It has decided to fix particular days in a week or month for issuing the certificates. It has also decided to hold camps for issuing the certificates at the taluka or block level.  The government is also planning to fix a time frame for issuing the certificates once an application is submitted with the district medical board.  In case the board does not have a government psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist or a paediatrician, it will be able to use the service of a private practitioner.  The government has decided to make it the responsibility of principals/headmasters of schools to arrange for disability certificates for students with disabilities. Under the new plan, the district medical board has to visit a school for evaluation of a student’s disability on the written request of the school’s authorities.

While the government’s move has come in for praise, many NGO activists voiced fears that it could lead to “massive corruption”.

The Telegraph, Calcutta


Deaths in juvenile home natural: Delhi govt

Around 75 inmates died between 2004 and 2008 at the complex

New Delhi: The deaths of 12 inmates of a state-run juvenile home in one month were natural, the Delhi government said Wednesday in its reply to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice. According to investigating officials, poor maintenance or lack of basic amenities could be contributing factors.  According to investigating officials, poor maintenance or lack of basic amenities could be contributing factors.  The NHRC Tuesday issued a notice to Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta asking for a detailed report into the cause of deaths of members of Asha Kiran Home and the state of affairs at the juvenile home, in north west Delhi’s Rohini area.  “The Delhi government has filed a reply to NHRC. Of the 12 inmates who died, one was under 18 years. Prima facie the cause of death appears to be natural. However, based on that we won’t close investigations. In previous reports, the home was found to lack basic requirement and had poor sanitation levels. We are going to see if the deaths had anything to do with that,” a senior official of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) told IANS.

The NHRC was acting on a complaint filed by human rights activist Prabir Kumar Das who alleged that 12 mentally challenged inmates of the home had died in one month.  Media reports suggested that three of the 12 had died within 24 hours due to lack of basic facilities such as warm clothes. An earlier report by the child right’s panel in June last year had found that although sanctioned for 250 inmates, the only state-run complex for mentally challenged people in the national capital houses 750 mentally retarded men, women and children.  The children were found to be suffering from tuberculosis, seizures and skin diseases. The home lacked hygiene and proper sanitary conditions. Around 75 inmates died between 2004 and 2008 at the complex.  In many of these cases, the cause of death was epileptic seizures, which the DCPCR probe committee said could be owing to neglect of medical authorities.

The detailed report from the chief secretary sought by NHRC is due within four weeks time.

Special school ‘disappointed’ at claim it is not enrolling pupils

MARY MINIHAN

ST MICHAEL’S House Special School in Dublin says it is “surprised and disappointed” at the Department of Education’s claim that it is refusing to enrol any more children with disabilities. A statement from the school on Grosvenor Road said it was in the process of assessing a number of new applicants. “In all cases, St Michael’s House is in full consultation with the Department of Education and Science and the National Council for Special Education. St Michael’s House is therefore surprised and disappointed with the Department of Education and Science’s statement.”

The school statement said each referral was assessed individually, considering a child’s needs, supports required and limitations of the school building. “The first priority of St Michael’s House is to children with a disability and their families.” The statement responded to the department’s claim that staffing levels were significantly greater than normal pupil-teacher ratios applying to special schools. “St Michael’s House firmly believes that the current number of teachers and staff in Grosvenor Road is commensurate with the educational and care needs of the pupils currently enrolled.”

The school said it had lobbied the department since the early 1990s for a purpose-built school in a “more appropriate location” for the Grosvenor Road pupils. “It has secured a green field site in Ballinteer and on instruction from the Department of Education, submitted plans in 2006 to the department. However, regrettably, it appears that this project is on hold indefinitely.” A man who has a daughter with special needs and who gained access to the Green Party convention at the RDS recently, protested at the gates of Leinster House last week. James McDonagh from Dún Laoghaire said he tried to enrol 11-year-old Angel in St Michael’s. He said she had not attended school for a year, and that no school would accept her “because of Government cutbacks and because of lack of resources”.

St Michael’s said it could not comment on individual cases.

Irish Times

A historical perspective of learning disabilities

Kid with Learning DisabilityAt one time scientists thought that all learning disabilities were caused by a single neurological problem but research has demonstrated that the causes are more diverse. Historically, speculation had attributed learning disabilities to heredity, or other unknown mysterious factors. An early explanation concluded that learning problems that were primarily the result of poor vision or hearing, motor disabilities, mental retardation, autism, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage while considered to be eligible for special education, were not considered to be a learning disability. The real concern, at that time, was why children with average or above average intelligence were having difficulty learning, and sometimes performed below their average peers in academic achievement.

The very recent advances in modern technology have provided an answer to this question by allowing scientists to look into the living brains of children. The amazing finding has been that the way in which the brain and nervous system develops is influenced by the experiences the child has during the early childhood years while the nervous system is developing. It seems that the development of the brain and nervous system differs from child to child and that the specific differences in brain and nervous system development accounts for the specific differences in learning abilities.  These findings resulted into a more indepth look at how early childhood experiences contributed to the development of learning problems in children. While intensive research identified many early learning experiences that contribute to the development of learning disabilities, the environmental factor identified as having the most impact upon the child’s development was found to be his relationship with his parents and their attitude toward his success. This relationship is referred to as parenting, and all other factors in the environment were found to be secondary to it because parents create the environment that the developing child experiences.

Other important factors in the child’s environment found to have an impact upon the development of learning abilities included nutrition, allergies to food, toxic chemicals, and heavy metals. A lack of sleep and physical exercise are additional factors. And, most importantly, when parents control these factors, the brain continues to develop, or returns to normal functioning.  The exciting result is that parents need not despair about their child’s learning problems, for research findings suggest that specific learning disabilities can be prevented, remedied, or corrected by identifying, and removing the specific factors in the environment that are preventing normal development of the child’s learning abilities.  Simply stated, to prevent, mediate or correct the cause of a child’s specific learning disability, a summary of this research appears to be suggesting that if you become proactive in greening up the child’s environment by removing toxic chemicals that may be causing allergies, see that he eats nutritious food, gets plenty of sleep and physical exercise it will go a long way toward helping your child become a better student. Researchers report that, in some instances, suggested methods have shown results in only a few days.

Delhi Govt. Special School denies admission to 8 year old child

Dear Madam Chief Minister of Delhi,

It is most unfortunate and painful that a school meant for children suffering from hearing impairment has denied admission to a hearing impaired child in Class I without any valid reason. The Rajkiya Madhyamik Badhir Vidyalaya (Delhi Government Secondary School for Hearing Impaired Children run by the Department of Social Welfare at Sector-4, Rohini, Delhi-85 has refused to grant admission to 8-year-old Master Vicky even after repeated requests of the child’s mother. It is submitted that Master Vicky s/o Mrs. Kiran Singh r/o N-123/5, T-HUTS, Lal Bagh, Azadpur, Delhi is suffering from hearing disability. As per the Hearing Disability Certificate dated 01.08.2007 issued by Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, the child suffers from Profound Sensorineural Loss with pure tone average of 95 % dB in the better ear. It is submitted that from the past one month Mrs. Kiran, the mother of the child, has been asking the authorities of Rajkiya Madhyamik Badhir Vidyalaya to give admission to her ward in Class 1 in the said school owing to Master Vicky’s hearing disability, but the school authorities have been refusing to take him in their school. Even after repeated requests the school has not paid any heed to the child’s right to education. It is interesting to note that the said school is a special school, run by the Delhi Government for the children with hearing impairment.

One can imagine that if a special child has not been admitted in a special school run by the Government, then what will happen to the children with disabilities seeking admission in mainstream schools run by the educational departments of Delhi Government and the MCD. It is needless to say that as per the existing law and government policies, every child with disabilities is entitled to, as a matter of right, admission in the mainstream schools. Mrs. Kiran Singh thereafter approached Mr. Ashok Agarwal, who had a telephonic conversation with a teacher of the said school namely Mr. Bhupinder (as at that time the Principal was not available) and was assured that the child will be given admission. However, the child has still not been admitted by the school. Mrs Singh has lodged a written complaint with the undersigned, the copy of which is attached with this letter.

It is also submitted that Mrs Kiran was employed as an unskilled worker in a factory earning average wages of Rs. 2000/- per month. It is unfortunate that she has even lost her job because of the fact that for the last one month she has been toiling hard to get her child admitted to the said school. It is submitted that such arbitrary attitude of the school by denying admission to a disabled child is not only unconstitutional but also contrary to the provisions of Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2008) read with the provisions of Article 14 (right to equality), Article 21 (right to life with dignity), and Article 21-A (right to education) of the Constitution of India as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994) and the National Charter for Children, 2003. We request you to kindly take the necessary action in this regard as soon as possible and make sure that Master Vicky gets admission in the said school in Class I. The arbitrary act of the school should be taken seriously and the erring officials should be taken to task.

With regards
Ashok Agarwal, AdvocateAdvisor-
Social JuristM: 9811101923

The wrongs in the Right to Education Bill

Renu Singh

WHILE HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s 100-day plan has drawn mixed reactions — we need to congratulate him on taking such bold steps as  scrapping of class X board exams and suggesting the setting-up of an accreditation board to rate schools. The minister’s promise to also enact the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, which seeks to make education a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 years, however, needs deep consideration. In its present avatar the Bill suffers from major anomalies which must be given due consideration, before its enactment. Some major flaws are:

Children in the age group 0-6 years not covered

The Supreme Court’s historic Unnikrishnan judgment in 1993, gave all children up to 14 years of age a Fundamental Right to Education. The court contended that the Fundamental Right to Life (Article 21) of the Constitution should be read in ‘harmonious construction’ with the Directive in Article 45 to provide free and compulsory education to children of 0-14 years, including those below six years of age. However, the 86 th Constitutional Amendment Act, Article 21A, limited the fundamental right to education to 6-14 years and this Act will further this huge mistake by not recognising the importance of the early years. This is in contradiction to India’s own commitment at the Jomtien Conference (1990), acknowledging expansion of early childhood care and development activities as an integral part of the ‘Education for All’ objectives. Globally, recognition exists that the early years are the most critical years for lifelong development. This recognition comes from various quarters, including evidence from brain research that ‘…neurological and biological pathways that affect health, learning and behaviour throughout life, are set in the early years…’ (Mustard, 2007). Research has noted that neglect during the early years can often result in irreversible reduction in the full development of the brain’s potential. On the other hand, research the world over has underlined the short and long term benefits of good quality early childhood care and development programming especially in contexts of deprivation, leading to improvement in children’s health, cognitive ability and performance at school.

How can a Bill be enacted six decades after Independence and make this major error? India cannot afford to deprive its youngest 16-crore population of a right to nutrition, health and early childhood education as enshrined in the Convention of the Rights of Children, to which India is a signatory. By not including 0-6 years in the Bill, the country is also furthering gender discrimination, since it is always the girl who is left to take care of the younger siblings, thus, depriving her of her right to education.

Bill does not promote a common school system and legitimises inequality through a multi-layered system

The Bill mentions in Chapter III 6(1) that it will be the responsibility of the state to provide free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school within a period of three years from the commencement of the Bill. With the MDG goals set for 2015, India cannot afford to wait this long and it should be enforced in a maximum of two years by the states.

While 6(4) and(5) espouse that children should be given an equitable education as enshrined in the Constitution and economic, social, cultural, linguistic, locational, disability related barriers should not prevent a child from participating in and completing their education — there are no provisions to create an equitable infrastructure required for this task. Unless a common school system that encompasses all government, private and aided/unaided schools is envisaged with effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure quality of education, the Bill will not be able to meet its obligations. Also, the inequitable system of education within the government, eg Kendriya Vidyalayas, XI th Plan’s 6,000 model schools or the state governments’ Pratibha Vidyalayas (Delhi), Utkrishta Vidyalayas (Madhya Pradesh) or residential schools (Andhra Pradesh) — being allocated special funds needs to be investigated and equal funds made available to all existing schools to develop a common minimum standard. A schedule of norms for quality is missing from this Bill and must be given due importance.

Also, the Bill must strive to work against creating a parallel and discriminatory system of alternative, non-formal education, into which are enrolled children from most disadvantageous circumstances, eg street and working children, children with disabilities, etc. The Bill must be categorical in making schools flexible and ready for providing education for diverse needs of children — why should a ‘one-size-fits-all’ system persist for education.

Teachers

The Bill continues to propogate discrimination against government school children as their teachers will still be deployed for census, elections and disaster relief duties(Chapter IV, 23). This is a complete abrogation of rights of children, particularly in times of disasters, when they are in urgent need of education to provide them a routine and ‘normalisation’. Moreover, the shutting down of schools during emergencies and disasters is a strong correlate to trafficking and ‘missing’ children.

Equitable quality of education

RTE bill includes ‘provision of equitable quality of education’ as one of its objectives, but fails to define the term ‘equitable’ unequivocally. The term ‘equitable’ quality should refer to fulfilling certain minimum infrastructure, administrative (including those relating to teachers, library), financial, curricular, pedagogic, linguistic and socio-cultural norms. The Bill specifies norms for physical infrastructure (number of rooms, teachers, toilets, etc) but does not outline expectations on learning outcomes. Some of the mandates like ‘A child cannot be held back in any grade or expelled from a school till class 8 th ,” emphasise a no-detention policy, but makes no mention of the learning levels of children. In light of current learning levels as indicated in ASER Report (2009), the Bill must have provisions for a database to capture learning levels of children, with a special emphasis on first generation learners.

Child Labour

Though the Bill prohibits any person from preventing a child from participating in elementary education, it does not adequately address the issue of child labour. The Bill refers to the Child Labour (prohibition and regulation) Act, 1986 (number 61 of 1986), and emphasises that no person shall employ or otherwise engage a child in a manner that renders her a working child. However, the Bill ignores the reality of majority of poor children who are employed in agriculture and who bear the burden of housework and sibling care. The Bill needs to categorically state that all forms of employment and engagement, which hinders the development of the child, should be banned and made a cognisable offence.

Children with disabilities

The Bill says children with ‘severe or profound disability, (who) cannot be provided elementary education in a neighbourhood school, shall have the right to be provided education in an appropriate alternative environment as may be prescribed.’ This is against the principle of ‘inclusion’ and does not put the onus on the education system to meet individual needs of children. Whereas, the Bill has detailed the norms required of a school (teacher-pupil ratio, buildings etc), it is silent on the facilities needed to enable children with disabilities to attend school (such as ramps, Braille readers, etc). In this Bill, ‘disability’ has the meaning assigned by the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, which does not include such other disabilities as defined by the National Trust Act, 1999 (autism and cerebral palsy).

While the enactment of a law making Right to Education a Fundamental Right has become necessary since the goal of universal elementary education has remained elusive despite being a Directive Principle for more than five decades, it is important that the Bill finds remedies for all the above glaring lacunae.

(The writer is director, policy & technical support, Save the Children, India)

The Times of India, 6 Jul 2009, 0649 hrs IST