Vikas, glad that you brought it here before I did!
I am also a member on arkitectindia and did respond to this thread which I
found was very insensitive on the part of a learned person like Pankaj Jain
who himself is running schools for poor. I am appending my response below
but still feel that there is widespread ignorance in the community about
needs of the disabled. No two disabilities are alike and often the yardstick
for cost of education is taken of a severely challenged person who requires
an attendant, costly equipments and special educators who come at a cost and
also the teacher-pupil ratio of 1:6 or max 12. However it is incorrect to
generalize the cost of education in this fashion. First the costs are
vaguely imagined and secondly even if it is correct to some remote extent
for those whose support needs are higher... it would be a travesty of
justice if disabled children of India are kept out of education merely
because of its high costs while the country continues to prosper at faster
economic growth leaving many developed nations behind. Such an argument can
only be made at its own peril as poverty is so closely related to disability
and in fact in several cases it perpetrates the other. The need is to
educate and sensitize the community and specially the decision makers.
Pankaj Jain is only an indicator of the thought process that prevails in the
general community who have no knowledge about the disability sector. We need
to venture out and get article 8 of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities implemented (Appending the Article 8 for ready information
after my response below).
Here is my response that I posted on arkitectindia responding to that
thread.
"Mr. Pankaj
Its not your fault for your awareness about education needs of disabled
children and their costs is abysmally low. This only confirms the point No 2
raised by George i.e. Widespread ignorance among educationists and policy
makers!
The poor you are talking about have disabled segment included in it as
disability and poverty are so deeply related for the reasons obvious to all
of us. Unless this vicious circle of poverty and disability is broken with
education and employment the disabled would continue to be poorer among the
poor.
And the debate can never be either only poor non-disabled or poor disabled.
Voices like yours are often reflective of the. bureaucratic mind set that
still does not believe in SSA (education for all). The worst is that they
feel educating disabled is costly than educating non-disabled which is
entirely incorrect in today's inclusive education concept.
Sorry if I sounded harsh but that is truth and also very much in line with
India's inclusive education policy as well a principals of equality
enshrined in our Constitution! You may like to educate yourself on this to
have a more reasonable view!
Regards
SC Vashishth
Advocate
9811125521"
Article 8 - Awareness-raising
1. States Parties undertake to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate
measures:
a. To raise awareness throughout society, including at the family level,
regarding persons with disabilities, and to foster respect for the rights
and dignity of persons with disabilities;
b. To combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to
persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all
areas of life;
c. To promote awareness of the capabilities and contributions of persons
with disabilities.
Measures to this end include:
a. Initiating and maintaining effective public awareness campaigns
designed:
i. To nurture receptiveness to the rights of
persons with disabilities;
ii. To promote positive perceptions and greater
social awareness towards persons with disabilities;
iii. To promote recognition of the skills, merits
and abilities of persons with disabilities, and of their contributions to
the workplace and the labour market;
b. Fostering at all levels of the education system, including in all
children from an early age, an attitude of respect for the rights of persons
with disabilities;
c. Encouraging all organs of the media to portray persons with
disabilities in a manner consistent with the purpose of the present
Convention;
d. Promoting awareness-training programmes regarding persons with
disabilities and the rights of persons with disabilities.
On 20 January 2011 18:31, Vikas Gupta <[email protected]> wrote:
> Dear Access Indians,
> I am caught up in some urgent work. However, I think some of you would
> surely find time to participate in the debate copied below.
> If you are not a part of the concerned mailing group
> ([email protected]), do joine it. If you face any
> dificulty there, as a temporary solution, you may write to me your
> opinions and I will forward it to the group. The debate is not merely
> two or three persons as such, on the contrary, it represents certain
> widespread oppinions.
> Best
> Vikas
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Pankaj Jain <[email protected]>
> Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:56:30 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] Responding to challenged people's needs.
> To: [email protected]
>
> But the cost of treating challenged population is very high. In India
> rich enough to be able to afford this, at this stage, as a matter of
> policy.
>
> You will come back with drivel about large expenditure on defence, the
> cost Ambani's home or Adarsh Society or Lavasa township, but even
> after distributing such amounts over 1.1 billion Indians, we shall
> remain very poor.
>
> Please decide your priorities.Will you prefer improving education for
> 15 very poor children or one disadvantaged child? It might sound
> heart-less to make this trade-off, but in real world, this is needed,
> because in the cacaphony of various special interests, the interest of
> average poor-lower income is always traded off.
>
> Pankaj
>
>
> --- On Tue, 1/18/11, Rama Agnihotri <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> From: Rama Agnihotri <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] OLPC at a village school: from IIT Mumbai
> students
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [email protected]
> Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2011, 9:48 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I do hope we all listen to George.
> Rama
> (Rama Kant Agnihotri)
> 81 B, Pocket AC 2
> Shalimar Bagh
> Delhi 110088
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: George Abraham <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [email protected]
> Sent: Mon, 17 January, 2011 7:14:32
> Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] OLPC at a village school: from IIT Mumbai
> students
>
> Hope all of you development Pandits are also including the nearly 10%
> disabled population when you design and plan your innovations for reaching
> education to the poorest of the poor? My involvement with the blind in
> Orissa and other parts of India has thrown up two major issues.
>
> 1. Lack of access to quality primary and secondary education has excluded
> the disabled population from being a part of the community
> 2. The widespread ignorance amongst
> the educationists and the policy makers
> regarding the potential and possibilities for the disabled to be a part of
> the HR of our country have marginalised the disabled over the years.
>
> I believe that the intellectuals and social activists on this group must
> include the disabled in all development plans. I would assert that the
> development status of a Nation should be determined by the status of the
> disabled population of the country. As it is often said, it is the quality
> of life of the lowest rungs of the social ladder that determines the
> standard of life of the Nation.
>
> Regards,
>
> George
> George Abraham
> CEO
> Score Foundation
> 17/107, LGF
> Vikram Vihar, Lajpatnagar 4
> New Delhi 110024
>
> PH:91 11 26472581, 91 11 46070396
> Mob: 91 9810934040, 91 9810001181
> Email: [email protected]
> Skype:
> georgeabraham13
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ambarish rai" <[email protected]>
> To: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:11 AM
> Subject: Re: [Arkitect India] OLPC at a village school: from IIT Mumbai
> students
>
>
> Dear Satish Jha ji
>
> Nice to see your effort by reaching the remote areas with One Laptop Per
> Child. Can you recall our meeting earlier held at Delhi? We are trying to
> build up a movement for equitable quality to all, while equal opportunity
> is
> missing in the RTE,Act. Quality of Govt schools couldn't be improved
> without
> providing equal opportunity to all in terms of fund
> allocation, monitoring,infrastructural facilities, recruitments of trained
> teachers and all having
> KVs...also other good schools.
> regards,
> ambarish rai
> convener, people's campaign for common school system (PCCSS)
>
> On Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Satish Jha <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Some students of IIT Mumbai made the following video of the OLPC
> > experience
> > at a village school near Mumbai.
> > Children at this school have been using OLPC for the past 3 years to
> > amazing results.
> >
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFkM9GVVu_4
> >
> > Thought it may interest you.
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 15, 2011 at 4:07 AM, Ram Krishnaswamy <
> > [email protected]>
> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> >
> > --
> > Satish Jha
> > One Cambridge Center
> > Cambridge, MA 02142
> > T: 301 841 7422
> > F:301560 4909
> > www.olpcindia.net
> > http://twitter.com/olpcindia
> > ________________
> >
> >
> > <#12d894291283d755_>
> > <#12d894291283d755_> <#12d894291283d755_>
> > <#12d894291283d755_>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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> --
> Vikas Gupta
> Assistant Professor,
> Department of History,
> Social Science Building,
> Arts Faculty,
> Delhi University,
> Delhi 110007.
>
> Residence: D II/1,
> University Flats,
> Maurice Nagar,
> Delhi 110007.
> Ph: 011-27662347 & 09818193875
> Email: [email protected]
>
>
--
Warm regards,
Subhash Chandra Vashishth
Mobile: +91 (11) 9811125521
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to. Consider
environment!
