Private, government schools must not deny admission to children with special needs: J&K DoE

Parents of children with special needs in J&K struggle to get school admission due to lack of inclusive environment. After receiving notice from NCPCR, DoE sent circular to ensure no school denies admission to such children.

When Musa was three years old, he was denied admission by seven private play schools in Srinagar due to his mild autism. Now that he is seven years old, his mother Saima Mubeen is still running from pillar to post to find a school that will accept her son.

“He is due to get admitted in Class 1, but schools in Jammu and Kashmir are not admitting him,” says the 40-year-old Srinagar resident. “Every school should have a separate section for kids with special needs, equipped with a trained speech therapist, and a special educator at least.”

She is one of the many parents of children with special needs who have struggled to get admission into J&K schools. After receiving numerous complaints and a notice from the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the National Education Policy cell of the J&K Directorate of School Education (DoE) has shot off a letter to all school education officials in the Union Territory to ensure that no school head — whether of a government or private school — denies admission to children on any such grounds.

“All officers, joint directors, chief education officers, cluster heads, zonal education officers should ensure that no school denies admission to children with special needs, thus creating an inclusive and equitable learning environment for all children,” the letter says, warning that action will be taken against defaulters under the rules.

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The DoE sent the circular after receiving a notice from the NCPCR to make sure that children get admitted to schools under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 as well as the Right To Education Act, 2009.

There are more than 1.2 lakh disabled children in J&K of which 83,567 are school-going, says Kashmir-based activist Zaheer Jan. However, private schools are denying admission to children with special needs, he says. “We approached DoE and different private schools — Burn Hall School, Presentation School, Delhi Public School, Tyndall Bisco and Mallinson Girls Higher Secondary School — but they didn’t reply to our representation,” Mr. Jan wrote to NCPCR.