According to the Social Welfare Department website, there are approximately 44,000 persons with disabilities in Meghalaya, but there is almost no compliance with the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Many CWDs are forced to stay away from mainstream education or choose “special schools” that are far from their convenience. The most disadvantaged even among Children With Disabilities (CWDs) are girl students with disabilities.
U-DISE data for 2020-21, shows, across the country, only 25 per cent of schools, including private, government, government aides, and others, have CWD-friendly functional toilets.
As per the data, only 2.23 per cent of schools in Meghalaya have functional toilets in schools for CWDs. Furthermore, very few schools have ramps with handrails for CWDs.
Reacting to this, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma called it a cause of concern.
“We have constraints, financial challenges, it’s not so simple, but we are on the job and we will do our best to resolve the issue,” Sangma said.
Asked about disabled friendly schools in the state, the Chief Minister added, “yes these are matters of concern and we will definitely keep them in consideration.”
He further said, “There are a lot of challenges in the Education sector and, large efforts have been made towards improving infrastructure as a whole, in all the Government LP schools, Government UP schools and Government secondary schools, higher secondary. “
Chief Minister Sangma last month launched the Meghalaya School Upgradation Programme under which 50 lower primary and upper primary schools were upgraded and improved under Phase I of the programme.
Sangma further informed that another 100 renovated schools will be inaugurated in November and January.
The Government targets to renovate the first 200 schools within the specified time.
In totality the State Government will renovate a total of 2000 schools.
“We cannot make or change everything in one go, it takes time, for the last 50 years it has been neglected and finally we have taken effort and we have inaugurated the first fifty schools. It is a long drawn process, it takes time,” Sangma added.