Draft New Education Policy ignores persons with disabilities yet again: Are special children not supposed to go to school?

The Draft New Education Policy, 2019 is an overtly ambitious document that covers an individual’s entire life span with respect to education in about 500 pages. Children with Disabilities have a right to free and compulsory education as well The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 says that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms - what are these essential norms? ; this year's winners include: Rajesh Ketkar who has developed life skills videos for the deaf in Indian sign language Aneesh Karma who has come up with a KAFO flexible orthotic device that allows victims of polio, paralysis or accidents to cycle and move freely Nekram Upadhyay whose 'my ability kit' allows those with spinal cord injuries and similar medical conditions grip a pen and write These innovations can directly impact a child's education. Disability omitted from Early Childhood Care and Education programme Instilling quality education since childhood helps understand and detect the need for intervention early for children with disabilities. - Article by Arman Ali, Disability Rights Activist and Executive Director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People Read: 75% of children with disabilities don't attend schools in India: UNESCO Read: 20 things every parent of differently-abled kids with special needs should know Read: This organisation is trying to build India’s first sign language college for deaf children