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Special Education Kulwinder Pal, Lovely Professional University

Notes Unit 25: Policies and Provisions: Constitutional

Provisions for Group of Children with special
learning needs

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
25.1 Historical Background of Special Education
25.2 Education of Children with Special Needs: International Perspective
25.3 Education of Children with Special Needs: National Perspective
25.4 Major Schemes
25.5 Supplementary Schemes
25.6 Initial Experiments on Integrated Education in India
25.7 Summary
25.8 Keywords
25.9 Review Questions
25.10 Further Readings

Objectives

The objectives of this unit can be summarized as below:
• to know about the historical background of special education.
• to explain about education of children with special needs in international as well as national
perspectives.
• to analyse major and supplementary schemes.
• to explain the initial experiments on integrated education in India.
Introduction

Over the years, the objective of the struggle has charged from survival to equality. The concept of
equality includes the rights of the disabled as approved by the United General Assembly in 1975.
Despite inclusion in the U.N. Charter, these rights have not become a practical reality for million of
handicapped persons throughout the developing world.
India is committed to the welfare and uplift of its less privileged citizens. Towards this goal, several
provisions have been included in the Indian Constitution for care and protection of disadvantaged
groups.
Exploratory efforts began in 1980 to suggest a comprehensive law for the disabled. These continued
and intensified in this decade. The goals of 1981 which was declared as a International year for
Disabled Persons (IYDP) were equality and full participation.
In India, however, there is no such law but policies of education from 1964 on wards have
recommended placement of these children in regular schools with adequate support system.
The centrally sponsored scheme for Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) was initiated
in early seventies by the Government of India in various states. The scheme has been revised and
now covers the following types of the handicaps.
1. Mental Retardation 2. Learning Disability

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