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Times Of India
09 June 2012

Mumbai: At a time when the state government and schools are at loggerheads over the reservation clause under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, experts are calling out for their attention to other important details. The Child Rights and You (CRY) organization said at a press conference that the inclusion of disabled children under the reservation quota is silently being ignored by the authorities.

"In most cases, only students with very little disability like learning disabilities are admitted, the rest are not even acknowledged. There must be a proper mechanism for proper implementation of various RTE rules," said Kanchan Pamnani, solicitor and disability, child rights activist. The activists also

spoke about the less awareness and non-availability of schools in rural areas.

"Disabled children face multiple marginalization in society. As it is they are marginalized for their disability, then poverty and also on the basis of caste in rural areas. The only way to promote inclusion in society has to start with education," said CRY CEO Puja Marwaha. She added that one of the biggest challenges faced by the state is funding the project. "If implementation is not proper, people will consider the project a failure two to three years down the line," she said, and added that schools too must figure out a mechanism that wipes out any form of discrimination once various RTE clauses are implemented.

Friday was the last working day for schools to implement the clause, but most have not received any application.

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