Nexus of Good: Bridging horizons

Centrally located, Madhya Pradesh (MP) is also known as the ‘heart of India’. It has a population of more than 7.90 crore, out of which 21 per cent are scheduled tribes. This makes it the home to more than 14 per cent of the country’s total tribal population, earning the name as the ‘tribal state’ of the country in every sense. The indigenous tradition and culture of tribals form the overall cultural scenario of state and give it the famous diversity which spreads across its vast land.

Tribal development has been a focus area for the state for many decades. Though the state has achieved tremendous growth in terms of various aspects of tribal development, like education, health & nutrition, agriculture, infrastructure etc., the growth of development in other districts as compared to tribal districts has been way to faster; the difference of growth is still visible.

The benefits of socio-economic and sectoral development have somehow eluded most of the tribal population. Despite impressive strides in various sectors, most of the tribal people are still languishing at the bottom of every social index, carrying along their primitive lifestyle and remaining isolated from development.

Despite the constant efforts under the Right to Education Act, since 2009, one section of the community has been still untouched, which is invisible to the major population—children with disabilities hailing from tribal belts. The department recognised the need to modify its approach towards these children and, thus, a structural change was introduced in 2021, wherein the schools were provided with 2 per cent reservation for children with disability. However, the schools which were running on traditional methods were still lacking in providing for safe spaces for children with special needs.

The World Bank estimates that 15 per cent of the world’s population is affected by one disability or another. According to Census 2011, India is home to 26.8 million people with disabilities. This is roughly 2.21 per cent of our total population.

5.79 per cent of the disabled are in the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP). MP has a total disabled population of 15,51,931, which is 2.14 per cent of its total population. The state figures in the list of top 10 states in the matter of disability. It accounts for 5.76 per cent of disabled children in India. And, amongst the disabled population of MP, 7.59 per cent are children. The total number of disabled in the 10-19 age group in Madhya Pradesh is 2,74,660, out of which more than 58,000 children are residing in tribal areas.

As part of identifying the existing process which needed a structural reform and to meet the needs of children with special needs coming from far flung tribal communities, various measures have been taken, like ensuring availability of educational institutions, making the educational institutions accessible, adaptable, and affordable by effectively reducing the cost burden for the children with special needs etc.

Creating awareness about reservation, early identification of students, and informed awareness about educational opportunities among tribal children were not only difficult to attain but also required constant, timely supervision and addressing of numerous problems to bring changes in the existing school system. The perceptible improvements realised since initiating the innovation included an improvement in the process/status of implementation of inclusive policies within the state. While initiating structural reforms in inclusive education (by conducting accessibility audits) in 12 schools (Eklavya Model Residential Schools-10; and Kanya Shiksha Parisar-2) on a pilot basis for the first time, further reservation was made for 48 seats during the academic year 2021-22 with enrolment of eight students. The plan is also based on converting the special schools under MPSARAS (Madhya Pradesh Special and Residential Academic Society) for smooth functioning by timely recruitment of teaching/special educators and non-teaching staff to support children through the initial days of their schooling. The department also increased the number of reserved seats to 267 for the academic year 2022-23, wherein 79 children enrolled.

Provisions were made for constructive improvement in Institution building and revamping infrastructural requirements by capacitating the engineers on infrastructural requirements like installation of signboards, ramps, railings, tiles, toilets, classrooms, etc. The accessibility audit was undertaken by a Government of India-recognised organisation, Arushi, wherein the department made requisite changes in their school infrastructure and processes.

The process further involved the development of tool-kits and various other resources like development of digital content and resources, Braille/Audio books, voice-over kits and narrators, light Indicators, audible story-telling tablets, etc. for smooth communication within and outside the classroom spaces. During December 21 to May 2022, 226 teachers of 155 special schools underwent training across 9 batches. Through this, these teachers were trained in awareness of disability, teaching of students with special needs, barrier-free environment, accessible learning, etc.

Creating awareness among the large tribal population as part of the beneficiary group was also made through information dissemination in Gram Sabha, regular promotion on Vanya community radio, printing IEC materials like posters, hoarding, banners, etc. along with awareness through sports activities. Through these awareness programmes, the department reached out to a large tribal population.

This initiative has been the first of its kind by a state government to push for inclusive education as part of a public sector intervention. The innovation adopted a complete student life cycle approach from admission to creating a sustainable setting for more inclusive education by being:

Responsive: by understanding the needs of the tribal students, their families, and catering to their requirements;

Transparent: by using a rules-based public platform that is open to all, and by issuing guidelines and SOP/orders to make the admission process more digitised and through a separate accessibility audit;

Efficient: by developing the existing educational institutions more inclusively.

The initiative began as a pilot project with reservation of 48 seats in 12 Special schools spread across 9 districts in the academic year of 2021-22. Later, it got expanded to 152 special schools with the provision of 267 reserved seats during the next academic year (12x of the previous year).

Now, for the current academic year, the project is expected to scale across 20 tribal districts covering all the 152 special schools and 95 CM Rise schools, which would result in ensuring enrolment of more than 3,500 tribal children with special needs in the coming years.

What was initiated and left behind as a legacy in the Tribal Development Department in MP under the inspired leadership of a young IAS officer, Pallavi Jain Goyal, and by a visually impaired but extremely committed officer, Krishna Gopal Tiwari, is a wonderful example of Nexus of Good that is eminently replicable.

Views expressed are personal