The present research paper is an attempt to explore the situation of education of children with special needs in India during ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The researcher used snow ball sampling technique to collect information from 83 parents living in different parts of India through telephonic conversation as well as personal interview. The results highlighted the pitiable educational conditions of children with special needs in ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The parents of such children were feeling helpless to cater the educational needs of their children. The results also highlighted the unpreparedness of schools to fulfill the educational necessities of children with special needs.
The year 2020 has put forward many challenges in front of people’s life. It was like a sudden break to a moving vehicle and life came to stand still. All the businesses, markets, schools, offices etc. were closed and it’s all due to COVID-19 outbreak. “COVID-19/Corona virus disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered corona virus. The virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes” (
The challenges faced by Children with disabilities during present times are becoming greater. The schools has come up with online teaching programmes that needed digital assistance but most of the families of children with special needs are facing problems of suitable assistive equipment, access to internet, easy to get to materials and proper support. Approximately 0.5% of books in countries which are on developing path are accessible and available for persons with intellectual, learning and visual disabilities (A Disability Inclusive Education Response to Covid-19).
UNESCO aimed to go ahead with the global education agenda through sustainable development goal number four to achieve universal primary education for all children by 2030. It is working towards inclusive education which should be available to all children without any inequity (Goal 4: Quality education). The biggest hindrance in achieving this goal is exclusion of children with special needs as eighty per cent of disability population lives in developing or under developing countries. In these countries access to education by children with special needs is a big challenge and Covid-19 pandemic has even worsened this challenge (
The report published on June 23, 2020 by new Global Education Monitoring (GEM) UNESCO highlighted the extent of segregation in education of children with special needs due to Covid-19. It disclosed that only in the Latin America and Caribbean region, roughly quarter of countries have laws relating to inclusive education which covers all learners. The report further showed that imbalances will have extensively grown during the ongoing pandemic (UNESCO Report reveals lack of education laws to ensure inclusive education during COVID-19).
The responsibility of the government is to look after the educational needs of all children specifically children with special needs as they need individual attention. Though the schools are making every effort for providing education to children through online learning but strong support system is required for children with special needs. Parents of such children also need to be taught/guided on how they can provide education to their children at home during the time of Covid-19 pandemic.
The ongoing crisis of pandemic has disturbed every phase of an individual life and education is one crucial part of this. Approximately 1.6 billion learners worldwide have been affected due to Covid-19 pandemic (Fostering inclusive education in times COVID-19). The most diminish group is persons with disabilities who are already facing many challenges in mainstream education system and now these challenges have been deepened due to online mode of education. It is feasible for general students to learn from online teaching but children with special needs require individual attention which is not possible in online learning. It has become difficult for parents to keep the educational pace of children with special needs at par with general children through online learning at home.
This provoked the researcher to investigate in this area and to communicate with the parents for highlighting the problems faced by them.
The research was delimited to the educational problems faced by children with special needs during COVID-19 pandemic only.
Only those parents were interviewed who willingly and freely gave their responses.
The time period of April 2020-August 2020 was considered.
The researcher encountered with the parents whose children were partially blind, fully blind, learning disabled, mildly intellectual disabled, slow learners, hyperactive, hearing impaired and intellectually gifted.
Is online education feasible and accessible to children with special needs?
What are major problems faced by parents of children with special needs while supervising them during online education?
Parents’ education, family income and digital devices at home directly affect the education of children with special needs. Parents with high level of education level will be more vigilant towards their children’s education than the other parents. Families with high income can provide advanced digital devices to children for better understanding of the topic.
Demographic information about Sample
It is clearly visible from the
Information about the Children with Special Needs
The
When the researcher asked parents whether or not online education feasible to children with special needs to which 87% parents said that it is not feasible to children with special needs as it is difficult for such children to concentrate and understand the topic through online mode.
When enquired about the accessibility of education then more than two third parents replied that it is not accessible due to lack of economic resources and support from schools.
Problems highlighted by the Parents
Specific Problems highlighted by Parents as per category of Children with Special Needs
Apart from the above mentioned problems parents also disclosed some general problems which are given below:
Parents of children with special needs who were earning less than 30000 said that it is difficult for them to buy costly and uninterrupted internet plans for children with special needs. Families of children with special needs who live in rural areas face the problem of long electricity cuts which hinder the educational process. The home environment for education of children with special needs is not suitable.
The following recommendations may help school teachers and parents to overcome the educational problems of children with special needs:
Parents urged that firstly they should be trained on how to teach children with special needs at home efficiently along with training of working on digital gadgets with ease. From time to time teachers should prepare special classes/orientation for such parents. Support from local government and school teachers should be provided to students as well as parents from time to time. Parents suggested that online classes of children with special needs should be taken separately where focus should be on teaching in easy and ground-breaking language. Specific evaluation guidelines for children with special needs should be prepared by the teachers and parents should be taught how to use evaluation sheets. Working parents strongly recommended that special support system need to be developed for them so that when they are at work place their children should not lose their education time. A strong collaboration of school teachers, leaders, intellectually gifted children, professionals, volunteers and resource teachers is the need of the hour to make online learning successful for children with special needs.
Specific recommendations given by Parents as per category of Children with Special Needs
The parents also recommended that software which caters the educational requirements of children with special needs can be purchased by a cluster of schools to fulfill the exceptional educational needs of such children. The help of bright/gifted students may be taken to develop unique learning material for children with special needs. It will help both type of students i.e. gifted students will be able to satisfy their creativity and children with special needs will be more benefitted from online mode of education. Some parents also said that schools can share the links of animated lessons/story telling of topics/videos which are already present on internet for children with special needs.
The results of the research paper culminated the contemptible educational situation of children with special needs during Covid-19 pandemic. These students were already marginalized earlier but now have been totally ignored when it comes to online teaching. The demand of the present time is to mainstream such children and pay attention towards their educational needs. The schools need to develop such kind of online programmes which can easily and effectively fulfill the educational needs of such children.