1. HOME BASED EDUCATION : A RIGHT FOR CHILDREN WITH SEVERE AND
MULTIPLE DISABILITIES? : A CRTIQUE
Education a Fundamental Right
All Indian children from the ages of 6 to 14 have the right to free and Compulsory
education. In 2002, elementary education was made a fundamental right in our
country. The right to free and compulsory education between the ages of 6to 14
is a fundamental right in our country. This right is inscribed under Article 21(A) of
the Constitution of India.
Article 21 A of the Constitution says;
“The States shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age
of six to fourteen (6-14) years in the manner as the State may by Law, determine”
There are three main features of Fundamental Right to Education in India.
a. All children between the age of 6 and 14 years shall receive free and
compulsory education.
b. The Government of India and the State Governments will ensure
availability of schools with appropriate facilities necessary to impart
education in all parts of the country.
c. All parents must send their children between the ages of 6 and 14 years
to school.
Children with disabilities including children with very high support needs are
equal holders of this fundamental right. Yet today, through proposed
amendments of RTE Act 2009, this fundamental right of the child is being watered
down and instead of the school, the home is being offered as a legitimate,
alternative option for the education of this child.
We believe that this would be a violation of right of the child to legitimate quality
education. We request the government of India, the MHRD and members of the
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource development to re-
assess the proposed amendment in the light of the human rights of the child
rather than the requirements of an educational system that is unable to make
legitimate space for the child.

2. The History
In 2009 the Government of India passed the ‘Right Of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act 2009’.This is the Act that translates the vision of the
fundamental right to education into reality. The RTE Act did not include children
with disabilities specifically in the disadvantaged groups, even though national
studies show that children with disabilities are the largest group of out of school
children. ( IMRB) It is also well known that children with disabilities are over
represented amongst the poorest of the poor in any country.
After protests from the disability sector the Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singh
gave an assurance that the Act will be amended to include children with
disabilities in the disadvantaged groups.
The 2010 RTE Amendment Bill
• Defines the child with disabilities and makes a specific mention of the child
with severe disability under the National trust Act, 1999, under the
definition of the child. (Annexure 1)
• includes the child in the definition of the ‘disadvantaged’ groups
More recently we have heard that there is another amendment to the Right
of Children to free and Compulsary Education Act 2009. This comes ( we think)
as a result of a recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Human resource Development which considered the amendments to the RTE
Act and have presented a report on June 2010.
This report gives some very important and forward looking recommendations
to the RTE in relation to children with disabilities.(2) However, it also
unfortunately takes a stand on the issue of Compulsory education for children
with severe and multiple disabilities. It says
“Another issue before the Committee was the aspect of compulsory education for
children with severe or multiple disabilities who may not be in a position to attend
school. The Committee understands that children with multiple disabilities need to
be part of the compulsory education process. However, there may be cases where
in such a situation, a view needs to be taken about the viability of invoking the
component of compulsory education in schools. In this connection, the Committee

3. would like to point out that under SSA, 75,099 children with multiple disabilities
are being provided education in regular schools. This has been made possible by
these children being first provided some school preparation programmes before
being mainstreamed in regular schools. The Committee understands that the
strategy of Home Based Education under SSA is at present being evaluated. The
Committee is of the view that this strategy needs to be vigorously pursued for
children in the 0-6 years age-group for Early Intervention and School Readiness
followed by their induction in the mainstream schools. The Committee, therefore,
believes that elementary education should not be made compulsory for children
with severe or multiple disabilities and the relevant provision in the Act may
accordingly be modified. (Para 4.12)”
As a result of this recommendation we believe a new amendment has now been
added to the Act. This amendment gives children with severe and multiple
disabilities the choice of school or home based education.
What is home based education?
The practice of home based education was initiated by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
as a “pathway to Inclusion”. The SSA “adopted a zero rejection policy for all
children’. In order to fulfil this zero rejection policy it follows a “multi- option
model for children with disabilities.
“This means that no child having special needs should be deprived of the right to
education and taught in an environment, which is best, suited to his/her learning
needs. These include special schools, EGS, AIE or even home-based education.”
“Generally home-based education is defined as the education of children with
severe intellectual/physical disabilities, who can be educated in the combination
of home-based and alternate educational settings to enable them to achieve
independent living skills. Home-based education aims at school preparedness and
preparation for life. Alternate educational settings provide opportunities for
learning of social skills, vocational skills and implementation of life skills.”
(Discovering New Paths To inclusion; A documentation of Home based practises for CWSN in
SSA July 2006)

4. It felt that
“Experiences of programmes like DPEP and various research findings have shown
that inclusion is best determined by the individual needs of the child. Most
children with special needs can be enrolled and retained in regular schools if
adequate resource support is provided to them, whereas there are others who
might have to be provided some kind of pre-integration programmes, before they
can be mainstreamed in a classroom.
There might also be still some CWSN with severe profound disabilities, who would
require an educational programme and intensive specialized support completely
beyond the purview and scope of a formal school in the current situation.”
It is these children who have been the recipients of home based education under
the SSA since the early 20th century in our country.
The aims of home based education as per the SSA document “ Discovering New
Paths To inclusion; A documentation of Home based practises for CWSN in SSA
July 2006
“Recent surveys and studies have also shown that a large proportion of CWSN are
out-of-school, owing to the severe nature of their disabilities, which at this point
in time might not be accommodated in a regular classroom setting. There are
children who, at some point in their lives, may need a special education
programme that is completely outside the purview of the regular classroom. Here
are the reasons: l
• Some disabled children need highly specialized skills taught by specially
trained teachers
• Some disabled children might never respond to the demands of an
academic curriculum and will require alternatives l
• Some disabled children could participate in an academic curriculum but
would require an inordinate amount of time and attention from a regular

5. class teacher, such that it would be inequitable for the other children in the
class
• Some disabled children need the support of a peer group that is more like
they are, rather than being pushed out into the “mainstream”
• Some disabled children might experience school failure without a special
education curriculum tailored to their needs.
• Some disabled children have greater opportunities to success in an
alternative setting because there is a greater emphasis on parental
partnerships, parental cooperation, and active parental participation in the
education of the child.
• Some disabled children might not succeed in a regular classroom, as they
might not respond to the dictates of a standardized curriculum.
While it has meant many things,, home based education as it has been practiced
in India, has never meant a child getting educational inputs five days a week along
with all the other entitlements that children in schools have. For example, in most
instances the child in home based education has not had the privilege of the legal
entitlement of the midday meal. This program
Just as the SSA has never kept any records of the dropouts amongst children with
disabilities it has never reported on the number of children with severe profound
disabilities who have been mainstreamed after being in home based education.
Is Home based education in the best interest of the Child?
While the government of India seems to feel that home based education as an
legal option for elementary education is in the best interest of the child, there
are some of us who feel it is not. Our reasons are as follows;
1. Home based habilitation strategies for children, support and information
to parents, affirmative action for the very young child with disabilities are

6. extremely invaluable strategies. The strategy of home based education
can be used as an excellent strategy for building abilities for the child and
the family. However, it should not become the only option for the
education of the child, particularly a child with high support needs.
2. Such an option is likely to foster, great social isolation, exclusion from
community and peers, devalue the child. It is likely to exclude the child
from many other entitlements and also to expose the child to a lack of
protection that social isolation brings. The quality of life of any child will
be seriously compromised if we isolate them in the home.
3. The label of severe and profound disability on a child is a deeply
questionable practice in our country. Till date we have labeled children on
the basis of medical parameters that have been questioned consistently.
4. The new UN Convention On the Right of persons With Disabilities that
India has ratified talks of a social model of disability. We are aware today
from our practice and from international understanding that a child may
be unable to participate fully in education…because of many reasons
other than high levels of impairment. A girl child with disability will not
have the same chances even of survival that a boy has!
5. There are many children who are today labeled as being severe and
profound disabilities who can with some support study within the system
even as it is today. If a legal option for home based education is given to
this child many of them will be ‘pushed out’ of the system. They will be
pushed out of the system because of the inequitable relationship that
parents and communities have with the education system. The will be
pushed out because our system has just begun to accept that the child
with disabilities will also be a part of it. If today we legitimize home
based education, we will roll back in time and just strengthen the push
our factors for all children who are vulnerable within the system.
6. Children with disabilities are the largest group of out of school children in
our country today. It is true that the demand for their equitable and

7. legitimate education has not risen even within communities and families
in our country. We know that there are many families that still do not
believe that their child is educable. Apart from our social attitudes, the
truth is that our systems for early childhood care, education and
protection and our rehabilitation system have not reached out to this
child and family. Our focus has to be on supporting the child and the
family to get to school not to leave the child at home.
7. To argue that any child is so impaired that they cannot reach a school or
participate in school life is putting the blame on the child. A child does
not choose to be severely impaired or have HIV , or live on the streets. An
inclusive system is one that is willing to stretch and bend for the child.
This should not mean it is content with providing the lowest common
denominator for any child.
8. It is true that inclusion is going to require systemic change. We need
changes in curriculums and the ways in which we transact this curriculum,
teacher training flexibility in administration.The RTE is the Act that tells us
how the fundamental right to education will be implemented in our
country. We have seen that it has been able to make fundamental
systemic changes in the education scenario of our country. It has put an
end to non formal education at the elementary level for all children. It has
moved from the examination system to comprehensive and continuous
evaluation. Then our question would be whether the fundamental
systemic change we envisage for the child with severe disabilities is home
based education?
9. Many of us who have worked with children with very high support needs
have run small centres and special schools? Many of these centres and
schools have been non-formal in nature. While this should not continue
such centres have proved that children with very high support needs can
come out of their homes and develop their abilities and be a part of
society. Why is it that either the child is in a general school or in the
home?

8. 10. The Parliamentary Standing Committee observed that there are very few
children with multiple disabilities in the general schools in our country.
“the Committee would like to point out that under SSA, 75,099 children with
multiple disabilities are being provided education in regular schools.” The
question we need to ask here is why? Are children with multiple
disabilities not in school because they cannot be in schools? Or is it that
we have just not tried hard enough? Our understanding is that it is the
latter. There has been no real ‘abhiyan’ to get the child with severe and
multiple disabilities in schools and to make schools more inclusive for this
child.
11. Our understanding of families is that most parents would want their
children to go out of the house and be with other children and learn and
be included. However, today many are unwilling to make the effort of
sending their child to the school because they fear the lack of security and
safety of their child. They fear that their child will learn nothing in the
system as it is today. They fear the humiliation that both they and their
undergo once they touch the system. We need to change this rather than
give an option of the home.
For these and many other reasons we urge the Standing Committee and
other decision makers to re-evaluate the legal option of home based
education for children with severe and multiple disabilities in our country.
We request that the fundamental right to education should not be watered
down for one set of children just because they have high support needs.