In desperate need of special educators

India needs a whopping 3,00,000 rehabilitation professionals, including special educators, speech therapists, pathologists, audiologists, rehabilitation and clinical psychologists, physiotherapists, etc to meet the demands of the huge number of persons with disabilities in the country.

Yet, there are only 38,000 registered rehabilitation professionals in the country at present, according to the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), a Delhi-based regulatory body.

“As per the 2001 census, two per cent of the population, which works out to two crores, is disabled. There is a huge need for seven times more training professionals than what we currently have to meet demand,” said SK Mishra, deputy director, RCI.

India needs 2,55,000 special educators for children with various disabilities, while the remaining requirement is for support specialists like physiotherapists, clinical psychologists, orthotists, etc. According to the Planning Commission’s Institute of Applied Manpower Research (IAMR), India has 5,265 professionals for the hearing impaired while the requirement is for 58,000. “Likewise, there is a huge need for teachers for the visually impaired, speech impaired, mentally challenged, etc,” pointed out Mishra.

There are 16 courses, including diploma and bachelors and masters degrees, standardised by the RCI, available in India. The situation of shortage is worsened with many of the professionals migrating abroad.

“While there are takers for the courses, many of them move abroad after completing their degrees,” said Mishra, who addressed a meet of course coordinators for education of the hearing impaired in the city. “The idea is to encourage more people to take up these courses,” he added.