What Are The Facilities Available For Children With Special Needs At Indian Schools?

Edited By Atul Ade | Updated on Jun 02, 2023 03:29 PM IST

In the early 90s, there were only some schools that encouraged young students who had physical disabilities to attend school with their peers. But the hitch was that there were absolutely no facilities to aid these students. A student with cerebral palsy had to be carried up and down the floors of the school each day. Fast forward to 2018-19, another student with a similar situation thankfully could use the college lift, but to settle into the classroom benches was a real task.

What Are The Facilities Available For Children With Special Needs At Indian Schools?

As far as common knowledge goes, Indian schools offer various facilities within the school premises, but parents of CWSN are often insecure about how their child will survive in a normal school. Their only hope is that their wards are able to lead the life of a normal school-going kid. Pressure of academics is hardly something they’re thinking of.

This article highlights the reality of Indian schools across the country and their ability to cater to CWSN.

There are a total of 14,89,115 schools in India, out of which 71 percent schools have ramps and 49 per cent schools have handrails. According to the report by Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) for 2021-22, for CWSN there are around 4,01,487 toilets facilities available. About five per cent of them are not functional. What is more important to note is 73 per cent of Indian schools don’t even offer this facility.

Recently, Careers360 had published a series of articles on the analysis of the various facilities provided at the Indian schools. For a better understanding we divided Indian states and Union Territories into six zones i.e East, West, North, South, North-East and the Central zone.

We aim to create similar awareness about the facilities provided for CWSN across India. Here we will also inform our readers about which states are at the top position in providing necessary facilities in an effort to include them into the mainstream.

Schools With CWSN Facility

Out of all the schools, the private unaided are the highest ones which provide the CWSN facility at their schools premises. Rest of them still need to include these facilities in their schools.

CWSN Facility at Schools Details

School Types	Total Schools	Schools with CWSN friendly toilet	Schools with functional CWSN friendly toilet	% of schools with CWSN toilets
All Management	14,89,115	4,01,487	3,82,405	27
Government	10,22,386	2,69,823	2,54,743	26.4
Government aided	82,480	22,197	21,486	26.9
Pvt. unaided	3,35,844	1,01,604	98,651	30.3
Others	48,405	7,863	7,525	16.2

Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal are the top states across the nation in terms of providing basic toilet facilities for CWSN students in school premises.

Top states With Highest Number Of Schools With CWSN Toilets

State/ UT	Total Schools	Schools with CWSN friendly toilet	Schools with functional CWSN friendly toilet
Uttar Pradesh	2,58,054	61,861	58,177
Maharashtra	1,09,605	57,747	53,511
Chhattisgarh	56,512	41,249	37,841
Odisha	62,291	34,134	33,062
West Bengal	94,744	28,392	28,392

Ramps for CWSN Students

Most of the government, government-aided as well as private unaided schools are well equipped with the ramps facilities for the CWSN candidates. While other schools have the lowest ramp facilities.

Top states With Highest Number Of Schools With Ramps For CWSN

School Types	Total Schools	Number of schools with ramps for CWSN	Percentage of Schools with ramps for CWSN
All Management	14,89,115	10,69,795	71.8
Government	10,22,386	8,40,062	82.2
Government aided	82,480	52,621	63.8
Pvt. unaided	3,35,844	1,63,635	48.7
Others	48,405	13,477	27.8

Delhi, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Maharashtra, Punjab are top states in terms of ramp facilities available at the schools. Almost all the schools of Delhi are fully well equipped with the ramp facilities.

Top States With Highest Percent Of Schools With Ramps For CWSN

State/ UT	Percentage of Schools with ramps for CWSN
Delhi	100
Lakshadweep	94.7
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	92.8
Maharashtra	92.7
Punjab	89.7

Schools Having Ramps With Handrails For CWSN

Around 7,40,395 of total schools in India have ramps with handrail facilities.

Top States With Highest Percent Of Schools With Ramps With Handrails For CWSN

School Types	Total Schools	Number of schools having ramps with handrails for CWSN	Percentage of Schools having ramps with handrails for CWSN
All Management	14,89,115	7,40,395	49.7
Government	10,22,386	5,89,986	57.7
Government aided	82,480	35,791	43.4
Pvt. unaided	3,35,844	1,07,503	32
Others	48,405	7,115	14.7

The same states who are the top in terms of ramps are also in the top position in offering ramps with handrail facilities. This facility is provided by all the schools in Delhi.

Top states with highest % of schools having ramps with handrails for CWSN

State/ UT	Percentage of Schools having ramps with handrails for CWSN
Delhi	100
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	87.6
Punjab	85.1
Maharashtra	78.9
Lakshadweep	76.3

Toilet, ramps and handrails may seem like trivial facilities but these are basic necessities that must be taken care of. Children with special needs need encouragement to be included into the mainstream. And these basic things, if available, will enhance the confidence of these students

Also check - All India Report On Facilities Provided At Schools Across The Country