New Delhi: Of 15,21,438 students studying in 150 colleges and universities across the country, there are only 8,449 students with disabilities which is mere 0.56 per cent of the total students, according to a survey on status of disability in higher education.
According to the third edition of the survey by the National Center for Promotion of Employment of Disabled Peoples (NCPEDP), 74.08 per cent of these were male and 22.7 per cent female.
"It is extremly shocking and disheartening that even twenty years after the enactment of the Disability Act 1995, the actual implementation is only 0.5 per cent as against the mandated quota of 3 per cent which raises many questions.
"Why are disabled students not able to go to colleges and educational institutions. It is the architectural barriers as in the institutions are still not disabled friendly, transportation facilities are not adequate which create hindrances. We hope that the government will take notice of the survey and look into the matter," Javed Abidi, director, NCPEDP, said.
As part of the survey, 200 institutions were written to, and only 150 responded, which included all the 16 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and 13 Indian Instiitutes of Management (IIMs).
In terms of disability-wise break-up (as per the available data), students with orthopeadic disabilities are 46.67 per cent, students with visual impairment are 32.13 per cent, students with speech/hearing impairment are 5.16 per cent and students with other disabilities are 16.05 per cent. The colleges were identified on the basis of streams and courses on which the survey was to be conducted.
Last year, the total number of students with disabilities was 0.63 per cent.
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