07-05-2025
Sharp decline in special needs children enrolling in Kerala schools, Centre urges state to act
The Union Ministry of School Education has raised concern about the 'significant decline' in the number of children with special needs enrolling in schools in Kerala, especially at the secondary level, and has directed the state government to take action.
'There is a significant decline in the percentage share of CwSN (children with special needs) in secondary grades and only 39% of teachers have been trained in inclusive education,' the ministry said in a review of the Samagra Shiksha, or inclusive education, programme in Kerala for the last academic year. A report on the review was released on May 2.
According to the report, children with special needs make up just 2% of the total student enrolment in schools in the state.
The report advised the state to use the PRASHAST app — an application developed by NCERT for schools to screen students for potential disabilities — to identify children with special needs providing assistance accordingly.
On the infrastructure front, the report pointed out several gaps, which the state was told to rectify. It said that out of 15,864 schools, 13,029 (82%) are equipped with ramps, but only 4,504 (29%) have CwSN-friendly boys toilets, and 4,102 (26%) have CwSN-friendly girls toilets.
The report said, 'There are six schools without provision of electricity, nine without drinking water, 21 without girls toilets, 41 without boys toilets.' The state was told to ensure I00% coverage of these facilities in all government schools in 2025-26.
Out of the total 1,310 secondary and senior secondary schools, 29 do not have ICT lags and 70 don't have smart classrooms. Besides, out of 851 senior secondary schools, 37 don't have Physics labs, 31 don't have Chemistry labs, and 67 don't have Biology labs.
The Union ministry also raised concern about the reduction in the total number of enrolments in government and aided schools, from 46.37,701 in 2022-23 to 45,50.822 in 2023-24.
The Kerala governemnt has said the 'state has done data cleansing exercises using Aadhaar verification. Apart from this, the state is also making an automated permanent academic account registry in order to validate enrollment details'.
