A play on Alice in Wonderland being performed at Akshar

Last month Jeeja Ghosh, the head of an advocacy group (Ankur) of Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, was not permitted to travel unescorted on a SpiceJet flight. The airline authorities had cited her “handicap” as the reason for offloading her from a Goa-bound plane. Ironically, she was on her way to Goa to attend an international conference where she would have presented a paper on the inclusion of the disabled into the mainstream.

The discrimination that Jeeja faced as an adult start much earlier. Take the case of Suhasini. She could not hear at all. According to doctors, one in every 1,000 child is born with hearing impairment. But when she was a little over two years, Suhasini underwent surgery and was fitted with an electronic hearing aid (cochlear implant) that made her fit to attend a mainstream school.

“We were advised to put her in a normal school immediately, as her language would develop by hearing other children. We needed a school that was sensitive, with a low teacher-student ratio,” says Suhasini’s mother, Pritha.

The latter checked the website of a new upmarket school. It claimed to be inclusive. They applied, and Suhasini was called for an interview.

“It was five months after she had started to hear. As we entered the interview room, we were faced with cold stares from the interviewers. They were not interested in hearing about Suhasini’s problem. Neither were they too sensitive to her condition. My daughter gave a good interview, but even then she was refused admission,” adds Pritha.

Suhasini got admission in two other mainstream schools, but many like her face rejection from schools, “inclusive” or otherwise. Some can’t even afford the fees that some inclusive schools charge. While activists cry themselves hoarse about inclusion at every level, we are still very far from having one integrated society.

“We need more inclusive schools for all levels of society. Every institution needs to have special and normal children growing and learning together,” says Pradipta Kanungo, the principal of Blooming Dale Academy, a new school off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.

Kanungo says she and seven other teachers quit their jobs at a city school when the institution refused to admit some special children. They pooled their resources and have started their own school last November. Blooming Dale Academy may be just a three-storey building catering to 35-odd students at present, but it is one of the more affordable inclusive schools in town. Ten of their students are special kids, a few severely autistic, while others are just slow earners, who could not cope in mainstream schools. There are two special educators here to give extra attention to special children. Her school charges Rs 1,500 a month for the latter.

The Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, asks normal schools to promote integration of students with disabilities. By 2013, the Right to Education Act will make it mandatory for both government and private schools to reserve 25 per cent of their seats for the underprivileged, special and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children. But many educationists and psychiatrists feel that the law may be reduced to farce if all schools don’t upgrade their resources at the same time. Mainstream schools maybe forced to take in special kids, but without adequate resources (sometimes as basic as a ramp) and a congenial atmosphere, these kids may fail to cope with the pressure. Integration is an expensive, complex task, educationists feel.

As of now, not even 10 per cent of the schools in the city are inclusive. And the ones that are, are often beyond the means of most.

“It is not easy to integrate special and normal children, especially in a school where there are 50 to 60 students in every section. You need special educators and counsellors to give them extra attention. Parents also need to be sensitised as too many special kids in a class, some a little rowdy, can upset some guardians,” says John Bugal, the principal of South City International School. Ten per cent of the students in that school are children with disabilities. “Some parents complain the school has been turned into a mental asylum,” he adds. The school fees are around Rs 4,500 per month. Parents need to pay an extra amount if they need help from a professional therapy group that works in tandem with the school.

Psychiatrists, too, point out the difficulties of inclusion. “If a child suffers from mild disability, he can be easily integrated. But if his mental or physical ability is moderate to severe, he needs special attention all the time. Many special children need speech therapists, counsellors, special educators and resource managers to guide them at every step. If a school cannot provide such an infrastructure then the child will automatically drop out after a few years,” says city psychiatrist Sanjay Sen.

One of the first inclusive schools in the city, Akshar, sees every class having special educators and “buddies” (normal children). Here, there are resource rooms for special children to engage in other activities. “Conventional schools often refer many of their students, who cannot cope with the pressure, to Akshar. Sometimes our hands are full. We feel that other schools must take the responsibility of the kids that they have already taken in,” says Geeta Lall, the coordinator of Akshar.

The principal of The Heritage School says the school never turns down a special child and every class has two or three such children.

“We only say no in case of mentally challenged kids and those with cerebral palsy. Children with learning disabilities, autism and dyslexia are usually never refused admission here. There are special educators and counsellors who help in their integration,” says principal Seema Sapru. The school that charges nearly Rs 8,000 (inclusive of food) a month has a sprawling campus and enough infrastructure to handle kids who need special attention.

While government schools have been sensitised about the Right To Education Act, private ones have been left alone so far. “Why are the private schools not sensitised? Soon they won’t be able to refuse special children,” asks Kanungo.

There are many who question the very effectiveness of inclusion in a traditional set-up.

“Let mainstream schools not take special children if they can’t handle them. Otherwise it would entail more harassment for parents like us,” says Nibedita Chanda, a mother of a special child.

(Some names have been changed.)

Did you face a problem in admitting a child with disability to a city school? Tell ttmetro@abpmail.com