Why can't children with special needs have separate schools: Supreme Court

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also asked the state government how children with special needs (CWSN) can be taught with kids who are not disabled.

The bench, also comprising of Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, raised the query after the Centre and the state government said that under the new integrated education scheme, CWSN were being taught along with kids who do not suffer from any disability.

The top court asked Centre why some guidelines cannot be framed for the education of such children across the country.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the UP government said that CWSN were being taught under the integrated scheme to ensure they are not demoralised or feel isolated.

They told the apex court that teaching CWSN along with children without disability would boost the confidence of those disabled and stop their alienation from the normal environment in schools.

The submissions came during hearing of a PIL, filed through advocate Prashant Shukla, claiming lack of sufficient number of special educators in the state of UP as well as across India to teach CWSN.

The petition, by 17 teachers who claim to have undertaken the training required to teach CWSN, has contended that to make Right to Education a success, it is necessary that qualified special educators are there in each school so that disabled kids can be prepared to face the challenges of life.

The Punjab government was also faced with the same query from the bench in another similar matter in the apex court.