The day begins at 10 am for special educator T. Radha (name changed). Her first stop is a Corporation school in Chennai where she gives training and teaches a modified syllabus to a disabled child. After recording the child's progress and speaking to the class teacher about it, she moves on to the next child. By the time the school closes at 4.30 pm, she has attended 10 children with disabilities, but 20 more are waiting. “If I am to take three days to see the kids in one school, how will I be able to visit the 15 other schools I have to cover in a month, and that too twice, as mandated by the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) ,” she asks.
This is a typical day for special educators under the Inclusive Education Program of the SSA run by the Union government. Tamil Nadu's School Education Department defines intellectual disability as a condition in which a child has a low IQ (below 70) and struggles with everyday skills. The department also follows the guidelines laid down by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, to define intellectual disability. Criticism has been rising about the demise of qualified special educators, the execution of programs such as SSA, and the support extended to government-recognized private schools. There have been calls to change the approach of “inclusive education” to “individualised education”.
According to the reply to a question under the Right to Information Act, 64,377 children with special needs are studying in schools under the SSA; 49,286 of them have intellectual disability, and 10,265 have multiple disabilities. However, only 1,649 special educators have been employed. This highlights a major flaw in the SSA's inclusive education: the number of disabled students is disproportionate to the number of special educators.
M. Ravichandran, State general secretary of the Confederation of Associations for Persons with Mental Disabilities, highlights the severe shortage of special educators. “The distribution of the special educators does not ensure the individual attention each child deserves. Further, the State's concept of 'inclusive education' is flawed, as students with varying degrees of intellectual disability may struggle in mainstream schools where their needs are not consistently met,” he explains.
What is SSA?
Introduced in 2001 under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the SSA is meant to ensure that all children with disabilities have access to schooling. Under it, every block is supposed to have 5-10 special teachers who would visit the schools once a week. Most blocks should have at least five special educators who cover 6-10 schools. A special educator identifies the child, formulates individualized education plans, assists mainstream teachers in the teaching plan, gets Unique Disability Identity and assistive devices, trains parents, conducts home-based therapy, and also runs day-care centers that the special children visit at. at least once a week for therapy. The special educators must visit two schools a day.
However, in reality, many blocks fall short of achieving the target, say educators. Even in Chennai, two to three special educators handle more than 120 children in 15 schools spread across 10 zones. Besides, they are paid ₹25,000 a month as honorarium, which has not been increased in the past 16 years.
Special educator R. Latha of Coimbatore district says the overwhelming workload prevents the teachers from adequately addressing the needs of their students. “While students up to Class VIII and sometimes Class X may use scribes at examinations and progress with ease, they face significant difficulties in the higher secondary classes,” she says.
Pointing to the difficulties in caring for such children without any practice, K. Gowri (name changed), a special educator in Madurai, says mainstream teachers, told to monitor the special children during classes, may not be able to focus on both groups of children. “This may not be a problem to the teacher, but may leave the special children at a disadvantage,” she says.
Special educators say some children with serious disabilities are unlikely to show much improvement. It certainly does not help when the SSA special educators miss out on their scheduled visits because they are assigned other duties when a Minister or VIP visits. “In our bi-monthly visits, not much can be achieved,” says J. Selvarajan, a special educator in Chennai.
The teachers say it is difficult to make do with the honorarium without any other benefit. “When I first joined, I was getting over ₹34,000, but the sum was cut down to ₹25,000. Many of my colleagues died and their families received no benefits. Some of them struggled without support and we came together to support them. We get no benefits and we are not permanent employees either. The officials say this is a noble job and it is a sevaBut how do we survive,” asks Mr. Selvarajan. The Supreme Court has mandated one special educator for 10 special students but no school has followed this norm. “Many special educators have resigned owing to the low pay and the high workload. The vacancies have not been filled, and the other teachers in the block have taken over these schools. This has been the case for at least a decade now,” says Radha.
Lack of funds for NGOs
The scenario is not different in schools receiving grants from the Department of Welfare of Differently Abled Persons. The pay for the special educators under the grants was recently raised to ₹18,000. The grants help to run 299 schools across the State for intellectually disabled children. But the government runs only one institute: Government Institute for Intellectually Differently Abled at Tambaram. It runs with two special education teachers; three others have been deputed. According to sources at the Secretariat, the State does not have the resources to run more such institutes, but wants to support ventures by other parties.
But the duties of the special educators at these institutes do not end with assisting the students. They are called by the District Differently-Abled Welfare Office to do the other tasks. “We are called every Thursday to help out at the office. Recently, we had to collect forms for a new scheme. But we are mostly called to help with loans for people with disabilities,” says Liza, a special educator from the Jawadhu Hills.
Revati Sundar opened a private school for children with intellectual disabilities in 2020. She encountered financial difficulties because of the criteria for receiving government grants. One of the norms is that a school has to function with special educators for at least five years before being eligible for the grants. Her school was wait-listed even as the high cost of maintenance, educational equipment, and staffing made it impossible to rely solely on government funds. “We had to drop the application for the grants and seek CSR funds, though they are unreliable,” she says.
The State grants are inadequate as they only meet a part of the expenditure. “The government pays the salaries of three special educators and a nursemaid. It has brought the noon-meal scheme to these schools and gives a monthly rent allowance of ₹10,000. The management is asked not to collect any fee from the students. It is not possible for us to meet our daily expenses with this model,” says the director of an aided school in Tiruchi that takes care of over 20 special children and employs at least 25 special educators.
S. Leena, 10, was diagnosed with autism when she was four. After an unsuccessful stint in regular schools, her parents enrolled her at Asha Deepam Special School in Tiruchi. “Here, she began to make progress. Children with special needs require not only schools with trained therapists and educators but also specialized pedagogy,” says S. Vani Shree, her mother.
No takers for two-year program
In 2016, the Rehabilitation Council of India made B.Ed Special Education a two-year program and discontinued the postgraduate diploma. Those who pursue the course are also eligible for regular teaching jobs. However, the low salary and job profile of a special educator deter people from taking up the course. “We have 30 seats in B.Ed Special Education, but only nine are filled. Our highest ever strength was 19. People want to pursue distance education or part-time. Though the two years mean more hands-on experience, the low salary makes it unattractive,” says KS Uma, coordinator, human resources and development, Vidyasagar.
For M. Hepsiba, a recent graduate of Special Education, the starting salary of ₹8,000 does not justify her course fee. “When we include projects, internships, and visits, it comes to over ₹1.5 lakh. Given that we earn a maximum of ₹10,000 in the private sector, how can I hope for a fair career?” she asks. B. Leelavathi, lecturer, National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, says, “If the government and the schools follow the 1:10 ratio, the job market will do well. This will create a job profile for the educators, enabling more people to opt for it. People will consider it as a serious option and not as the last resort.”
,With inputs from C. Palanivel Rajanin Madurai, and Nahla Nainar andAncy Donal Madonna in Tiruchi.)