Page 167 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Cover Story EW SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOLS RANKINGS 2022 23

INDIA’S MOST RESPECTED SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOLS

Prior to enactment of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities schools of sufficient repute to be rated
Act, 2016, Educ ationW orld started rating and ranking the and ranked by Educ ationW orld has
risen from 16 in 2015 to 28 this year.
country’s most respected special needs schools to inform To compile the eighth EW Special
parents and encourage education institutions to pay greater Needs Schools Rankings 2022-23,
attention to children with disability field personnel of the Delhi-based
Centre for Forecasting & Research
Pvt. Ltd (C fore, estb.2000) inter-
viewed a specially constituted da-
tabase of 676 sample respondents
including parents and special edu-
cators to rate special schools under
ten parameters of excellence, viz ,
teacher welfare and development,
competence of faculty, quality of pro-
gramme, rehabilitation, co-curricular
education, individual attention to stu-
dents, leadership/management qual-
ity, safety and hygiene, infrastruc-
ture provision and value for money.
In the 2022-23 league table of
India’s most admired special needs
schools, there is a major rearrange-
ment of seating at top table. This
year’s sample respondents have
n
vaulted S a n k a l p — T h e L e a rn i g
a
C e n tre & S p e c i l N e e ds S c h ool
s
l
f or C h i dre n w ith A u ti m a n d
Sankalp’s director Dr. Sulata Ajit (right): promotion responsibility I n te l l e c tu a l D i a b i ity , C h e n -
l
s
n a i (estb.1999) to #1 from #5 in
rguably the most poignant Educ ation R ep ort, despite a spate of 2021-22, with top scores under nine
outcome of continuous un- child-friendly legislation. The new Na- of ten parameters of excellence.
Ader-funding of education in tional Education Policy (NEP) 2020 “We are humbled by this recogni-
post-independence India — annual also “fully endorses the recommenda- tion and accept this big promotion with
expenditure for public education tions” of Rights of Persons with Dis- great sense of responsibility to sustain
has averaged a mere 3.5 percent of abilities Act, 2016. In Chapter III, the the high standards that we have set
(low) GDP for the past seven de- Act details the obligations of the state ourselves to educate and mainstream
cades c f. the global average of 5 per- and local governments to ensure that our children to the maximum extent
cent and 8-10 percent in developed “all education institutions funded or possible. I believe that total commit-
OECD countries — is the neglect of recognised by them” provide inclusive ment of our teachers, parents’ faith
youngest and most vulnerable chil- education for children with disability. in this institution, holistic curricu-
dren at the bottom of the country’s However before this Act was leg- lum, aptitudinally appropriate voca-
iniquitous socio-economic pyramid. islated in 2015, your editors started tional and life skills training that we
More so of children with disability. rating and ranking the country’s most provide our children in our new eco-
According to the Mumbai-based respected special needs schools to in- friendly school building have made
NGO ADAPT (formerly Spastics Soci- form parents and encourage schools a great impact on the informed pub-
D
ety of India, estb.1972), 21st century to pay greater attention to differently lic,” says r. S u l a ta A j it, co-founder
India grudgingly hosts 20 million abled children. Moreover, all schools and director of Sankalp, awarded a
children with varying degrees of dis- were assessed under the parameter Ph D in special and inclusive educa-
ability. Of them, 75 percent below age of ‘special needs education’ in the an- tion by Nottingham University, UK.
five have not attended an educational nual EWISR league tables. Since then, Adds L a k s h m i K ris h n a k u m a r,
institute, says a 2019 U nesc o S tate of the number of dedicated special needs founder-director of the affiliated

168 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022