We are forced to expel special children: Schools

School principals admit pressure from parents of other students often keeps schools from admitting special children.

While over the years, the number of special children in mainstream schools has increased, schools admit they are forced to deny admissions to such students or expel them because of rising parent pressure, in a panel discussion on inclusive education on Wednesday.

Speaking at ‘Should classrooms have assorted chairs’ held by Swati Popat, head of Podar Jumbo Kids, the principals said that parents of other students often fear for their child’s safety and demand expulsion of special children.

“Parents are not yet open to having their children study in the same classroom as a child with a disability or special needs. Often, they believe that presence of such a child is detrimental to the growth of their children,” said Lina Asher, director, Kangaroo Kids Education.

Avnita Bir, principal, RN Podar School, Santa Cruz, said, “It is often a question of choosing between one child and the rest of the class. We often end up choosing the latter.”

Dr Sameer Dalwai says that such parents’ fears are groundless, as research has proved that it is healthy for students to study in multi-intelligence classrooms. Dalwai added that schools need to come up with sensitisation programmes for parents to remove their misconceptions about safety of children.

“Today, special children are often given a stepmotherly treatment by their peers, but it helps them in facing life and, hence, it is better to admit special children in mainstream schools rather than special ones,” he said.

Recently, a research paper on aggression of normal children towards special children was submitted by Dr Reeta Sonavat, head of department for human resource development, SNDT Women’s University, Santa Cruz, to Tata Institute of Social Sciences. It showed that normal children tend to learn a lot from special children, especially anger management.