It’s a tougher task for parents of handicapped children

Securing a seat for your child in any nursery school is a task in itself. However, parents whose children have special conditions or deformity such as cleft lips, clubfoot, or are hearing or visual impaired, etc, have a harder time convincing schools.

Anjana Semwal, a Chembur resident, whose daughter had a cleft lip, had a tough time getting a seat in kindergarten. “Several schools refused because of her speech problem. I was even advised to enrol her in a special school.” Her daughter is now being promoted to senior KG at Kangaroo Kids, Santa Cruz.

“A popular school in Powai refused to even sell an application form for my child,” said another parent. Many a times, such parents have to approach support organisations like the National Association for the Blind (NAB) to persuade a school to grant
admission to visually-impaired students.

“We have had cases where parents of visually-challenged children have sought our help. We then try to persuade the school to take in the child by assuring them that tuition and other support will be provided by us,” said K Ramkrishna, honorary secretary, NAB.

However, there are several schools which have an inclusive education policy. “We have kids with needs ranging from autism, partial paralysis to high diabetes, partial blindness to mild hearing impairments, in our school,” said Lina Ashar, chairperson, Kangaroo Kids Education Limited.

According to her, schools need to equip themselves with counsellors and special educators to monitor such children.

Gundecha Education Academy in Kandivli has given admission to many with physical or mental disability. Principal Seema Buch, said, “A child with hemophilia, a rare bleeding disorder, took admission last year in junior KG. His parents had lost all hopes of getting admission.”

Most schools are not willing to take the responsibility of a special child, said Buch. “It is mostly due to ignorance and lack of infrastructure.”