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Special Education

Notes • The first public school with special classes for children with mental retardation was formed in
Germany in 1859 and thereafter in other European nation in the next decades.
• The concept of integrating CWSN in regular schools was introduced in many countries in 1960’s.
1970’s witnessed new initiatives in the area of integrated education, with awareness and services
for children with special needs becoming more accessible.
• The NPE brought the fundamental issue of equality centre stage. Section 4.9 of the policy clearly
focuses on the needs of the children with disabilities. “The objective should be to integrate the
physically and mentally handicapped with the general community as equal partners.
• The NPE was followed by POA (1992). The POA suggested a pragmatic placement principle for
children with special needs. It is postulated that a child with disability who can be educated in
a general school should be educated in a general school only and not in a special school.
• The POA was strengthened by the enactment of the RCI Act, 1992. Experience showed that
there was no mechanism in the country to standardize and monitor the training of special
educators and other rehabilitation professionals in the country.
• The most landmark legislation in the history of special education in India is the Persons with
Disabilities (Equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act, 1995. This
comprehensive Act covers seven disabilities namely blindness, low vision, hearing impaired,
locomotor impaired, mental retardation, leprosy cured and mental illness.
• Another landmark legislation is the National Trust Act. In 1999, the Indian Parliament passed
an Act entitled “National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental
Retardation and Multiple Disability. This Act seeks to protect and promote the rights of persons
who, within the disability sector, have been even more marginalized than others.
• The schemes dealing with CWSN can be categorized into educational and supplementary
schemes. The Educational scheme includes the Integrated Education of Disabled Children (IEDC)
and the supplementary schemes include the Scholarship as well as the Assistance to Disabled
Persons.
• The Government of India’s appreciation of the need to integrate children with special needs
came in 1974, when the Union Ministry of Welfare launched the centrally sponsored scheme of
Integrated Education of Disabled Children (IEDC).
• The Government of India started giving scholarships for elementary and higher education to
the visually impaired, hearing impaired and locomotor impaired children in 1955.
• Education of CWSN cannot be successful until they are provided those essential aids and
appliances that enhance their functional ability.
• The first pilot project on integrated education in India came in the form of Project Integrated
Education for the Disabled (PIED). PIED launched in 1987, was a joint venture of MHRD and
UNICEF.
• The success of PIED led to the inclusion of the component of Integrated Education of the Disabled
(IED) in DPEP, a scheme launched by the Government of India for the development of elementary
education.
• A recent initiative of the Government of India to Universalise Elementary Education is Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Self Assessment
3. State whether the following statements are True or False:
(i) The number of scholars rose to 10,000.
(ii) The union ministry of social welfare in 1990, launched the ADIP scheme.
(iii) The first pilot project on integrated education in India came in the form of project integrated
education for the disabled (PIED).
(iv) At present, IED in DPEP is going on in 150 districts of 20 states.
(v) SSA is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country.

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