Kerala: Special' protest to mark 70 years of government neglect

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Children with special needs, and those caring for them, are a highly neglected lot. While 43 lakh normal kids receive free education, nearly 8 lakh children with special needs in the state do not. That their welfare is of the least concern is borne out by another stat: A headmistress of a special school receives less than the cook who prepares noon-meal for the same set of children.  In protest against 70 years of neglect, 70 special children, 70 parents, and 70 teaching and non-teaching staff will stage a hunger strike in front of the Secretariat on August 14, the eve of the 70th Independence Day.

The hunger strike will be led by Association for Intellectually Disabled, Special Olympics Bharat, Special School Employees Union, and Association for the Welfare of Special School Staff. “Our government has not been able to ensure even the basic right of free education for these children of special needs. Over 43 lakh children are provided free education in the state. What’s more, all the schools for hearing- and sight-impaired children are run by the government directly or in the aided sector. They get all services and facilities gratis,” said Fr Roy Vadakkel of Association for Intellectually Disabled.

But for children with special needs, the state has just a single school, the C.H Mohammed Koya Memorial State Institute for The Mentally Challenged, Pangappa-ra, here. There are but over 240 special schools in the state run by NGOs, for which assistance is stingy. (The UDF government’s move to confer aided status on 33 special schools in 2015 has been put on hold by the LDF government.) The salaries received by teaching and non-teaching staff in the institutions range from Rs 2,500 to Rs 8,000. 

“To understand the depth of the injustice, check what others with the same qualification receive in other government schemes. They get more than '20,000,” said Fr Roy Kannanchira, the president of Special Olympics Bharat. The discrimination can be seen right within the special school itself.  “Those preparing lunch in a special school under the state’s noon-meal programme pocket Rs 8,800 a month while the headmistress gets just '8,000, and the ayah a mere Rs 2,500,” Fr Kannanchira said. Even legal entitlements do not reach special children. Though there is a government order directing local bodies to grant such children a scholarship of Rs 28,500, most local bodies provide only Rs 2,500 to '5,000.