SHILLONG: The State Government has promoted inclusive education by allowing both disabled and normal students to study together in as many as 2178 schools across Meghalaya.
The annual report of the office of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15 tabled in the House on Wednesday said that out of the total 2178 inclusive schools, 2112 are elementary schools while 66 are secondary and higher secondary schools.
According to the report, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under the Education department has adopted a ‘zero rejection policy’ to ensure that every child with special needs is provided with meaningful and quality education under a programme christened as ‘Integrated Education for Disabled’.
The report said that during the financial year plan 2013-14, the State had identified 9797 children with special needs out of which 7308 were enrolled in schools as per the Unified District Information System for Education.
As many as 12793 children with special needs were identified in 2014-15 and out of this 8177 were enrolled in schools as per the Unified District Information System for Education.
As per the report, the total number of disability certificates issued till date is 32,006. The number of disability certificates issued during the year 2013-2014 was 1923 and in 2014-15 it is 4380.
