Disabled children are illiterate due to lack of support services: Report

According to the India Social Development Report (SDR) 2016, about 45% of all persons with disabilities (PWD) in India are illiterate.
They remain illiterate mainly because of lack of support services. The theme for this edition of report was ‘Disabilities Rights Perspectives’.

Key Highlights from report

• The number of PWDs in India are 26.8 million or 2.2% of the population. However, the World Bank estimates it is 4 to 8% of the population.
• Men formed 56% of the PWDs and 70% of the disabled population is in rural areas.
• Movement disability accounted for the largest number of PWDs in India. It was followed by hearing disability and visual impairment.
• 38% of all male PWDs were illiterate and the illiteracy rate was 55% for female PWDs. Whereas, India’s total literacy rate is 74 per cent.
• For each category of disability, a greater proportion of women in it are illiterate than men. 76% of women with multiple disabilities are illiterate.
• Interestingly, even in Kerala, which has near-total literacy, 33.1% of the PWDs were illiterate.
• It estimated one-third are children with disabilities of the 75 million children of primary school age are out of school.
• State governments must ensure availability of minimum support such as accommodation, assistive devices and transport for disabled children to complete their schooling.

How the report was prepared?

The report data was based on number of sources, including the census, National Sample Survey (NSS), data-sets of India Human Development Survey, and National Family Health Survey. Besides it also included the new data from fresh empirical studies.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2016