Challenges of Learners with Disabilities in Open Schools in India

Arranging Education for all with equity and equality had been one of the biggest challenges in India. Despite having RTE (2009), 77 million children were not enrolled with the regular system and such exclusion was commonly observed in marginalised categories like People with Disabilities (PwD), girls, and people belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. As far as education in India is concerned, Children with Disabilities (CwDs) are observed as the most vulnerable group which requires special attention through special provisions. Census 2011 reveals that 46.2 lakhs is the population of children with disability that lies in the age group of 10-19 years. Out of this population, 27% never attended school, and 12% attended school earlier. Also, 54% of children with multiple disabilities never attended any educational institution. Furthermore, researchers communicated that after the drop out from mainstream schools, most of the learners either leave education altogether or join the open school system. Hence, it becomes imperative to have a strong open education system in the country so that it welcomes and caters the needs of children with disability in the best possible manner that enhances their academic aspirations.  This study aims to improve the current practices of existing open schools and carried out this research in two phases. In the first phase, the researchers intended to explore the concerns and problem areas of the learners in open school and in the second phase an intervention programme was provided to the learners. Hence, basically, this paper shares the findings of the two small-scale pieces of research and is presented in two sections. The first section presents the challenges and the other section shares the outcome of the intervention which was provided to the learners based on the findings of the first section’s research. For the research, the authors selected the sample from one of the open schools in India i.e. the National Institute of Open Schooling. The challenges of the learners were explored with respect to the following dimensions:-registration process, accessibility to study centers, study material, personal contact programmes, examination and support services extended by the organisation. The sample was selected through random selection, 50 learners with different disabilities were selected and a questionnaire was used to gather the data. The questionnaire was translated into three languages i.e. English, Hindi and Indian Sign Language and was shared with the sample through different means video format, personal interaction and hard copy. The findings of the study revealed that most of the learners were facing challenges majorly in accessing the textual study material of open school and attending the examination. Further based on the survey findings, to increase the content accessibility, a modification of one of the chapters of X grade Science subject, topic ‘AIR’ was done. 15 learners with disabilities were selected through purposive sampling and the effectiveness of the modified content was assessed. The post-test administered at the end of the intervention revealed that 80% of the learners agreed that the ‘modified content’ was easy to understand, memorise and recall. This research outlines a series of recommendations which includes the need of being more focussed on the presentation of textual material shared with the learners, modification in the ways of taking examinations and a learner-centric support system at open schools. It is further suggested that the content must be prepared and presented on the universal design of learning and the learners must be allowed to take the examination through different modes i.e. verbal, non-verbal (sign language) and written, whichever the learner is comfortable at. Moreover, it is also suggested that special education and related services along with guidance and counselling cells at study centers must be taken into consideration for the psychological well-being of the learners with disabilities enrolled with the open school system.