Abstract
India has a very large number of children with disabilities, most of them are out of school. About 10 percent of India's population is disabled and only 2 percent of India's 98 million disabled can have access to professional help. In Orissa, disabled constitute 0.5 percent of India's total population. Nearly 1200 special schools have a combined enrolment of about 55000 children, about 240 districts do not have any special schools and those that exist are isolated from the general school system. There are 14, 323 schools and 54 NG0s under IEDC (Integrated Education for Disabled Children) scheme. This is just a drop in the ocean. During the last decade, the major thrust in India has been on IEDC and PIED (unicef assisted project) schemes. An apt vehicle for giving impetus to this movement is through the ongoing DPEP, a major multi-faceted decentralized programme launched in 1994 as a centrally sponsored scheme. DPEP is a pioneering programme designed to improve the quality of primary education. Its main task is to move towards the universalisation of elementary education in the educationally backward districts of the country. Universalisation cannot take place if ten percent children with disabilities are excluded from the general mainstream of education.
DPEP is trying to improve the enrolment, participation and retention of disabled children in regular education schools. This has also become a mandatory requirement with the passage of PWD Act, 1995 by Govt of India. DPEP progranmme began with 42 districts in 7 states in 1994 and now covers 236 districts in 15 states. In Orissa, the programme was implemented from 1996-97 in five districts i.e. Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Kalahandi & Rayagada, and was extended to three more districts i.e. Baragarh, Sambalpur and Keonjhar in 1997-98. The profile of eight districts in terms of a few demographic, geographical and educational parameters has been depicted in the paper. Initially one Block from each DPEP district has been taken as IED block on composite area planning approach. There are 88 Block Resource Centres (BRCS) and 1132 Cluster Resource Centres (CRCS) in eight DPEP districts. The author discusses the distinguishing features of DPEP, objectives of DPEP, management structure, programme components of IED, DPEP interventions & strategies, achievements under IED, network of BRCs and CRCs for the State of Orissa.
Through the four major international documents, viz, World Declaration on Education for All (1990), UN Standard Rules (1993), Salamanca Statement (1994), and the World Summit Declaration (1995), we have been made aware that inclusive education is a leading principle in Special Needs Education in realizing the goal of "Education for All". The existing infrastructure available in DPEP districts if utilized to its optimal capacity will definitely serve to give a boost to inclusive schooling in the country, which is still in its embryonic stage.
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