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Seminar to discuss higher education for disabled

NEW DELHI, AUG. 15. Alarmed over a finding that just 1.2 per cent of the 3.6 lakh disabled youth in the country had access to higher education, the Union HRD Minister, Arjun Singh, today said in the next month a national seminar with top educational bodies would take up the issue and make efforts to improve the situation.

"The ones who are really disabled are those who can not understand the disabled. A seminar in September would deliberate on the issue of improving access to higher education to the disabled," Mr. Singh said at a seminar here.

Top educational bodies like UGC, AICTE, NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan are expected to participate in the seminar.

Prominent disabled activist Javed Abidi said though the country got its freedom 57 years ago, the disabled are still not free as far as access to education is concerned.

Referring to a study done by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), Mr. Abidi said the country's higher educational system is not accessible to 98.8 per cent of its disabled youth.

"This reveals the dismal state of adherence to the three per cent reservation for disabled students as mandated by the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995," he added.

"Though Special Education is under Social Justice Ministry, it ideally should have been under the HRD Ministry as it (HRD Ministry) deals with the education of all others," Mr. Abidi said. -- PTI

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