“If he has education, there will not be any problem”: Factors affecting access to education for children with disabilities in Tamil Nadu, India

notebooks and helping them to write. Most children in the school reported that spending time with their friends was a major motivator in attending school. Sometimes peers helped them to get back home after school and relayed important information to caregivers. “As soon as we leave him at school, they [friends] will take his bag and they will keep it in his place. . . If he asks them to bring some water when he sits and eats, they will bring some water and give it to him. If he wants to go to any nearby room, for example, to the headmaster’s room. . .his friends are helping” (Mother of a boy, mobility limitation–“a lot of difficulty”) Still, many children experienced negative interactions with their peers. Over a third of chil- dren who had ever been to school had been teased or abused by their peers. Often bullying was disability-targeted, with reports of children being called derogatory names related to their impairments or being picked on because they were perceived to be easier targets (e.g. difficul- ties running away or reporting bad behaviour to teachers). Children and caregivers reported incidents such as other children stealing their personal items, name-calling, making fun of their poorer school performance, and even being physically beaten. “Yes, I had questioned them [for calling me names] and fought [with children bullying me], Sir. Because my condition is like this, they all call like that, Sir. They frequently tease me, Sir. Even a single day they do not call me by name, Sir. My classmates call ‘Jhaadai, Jhaadai’[s- quint-eyed].”

(A boy, visual limitation–“a lot of difficulty”) “She says -I do not know to read, for that other children are teasing me. . . She says—children tease saying that I do not know anything. While going to school she will tell me that this boy teased her, and that boy teased me. Boys, and sometimes girls also tease her.” (Mother of a girl, mobility limitation–“cannot do”) Even without overt discrimination, some children with disabilities were excluded from social activities at school. Generally, children who could manage to move around indepen- dently played with others at school, particularly boys and girls with hearing difficulties. Others, due to the fear of getting hurt, feeling embarrassed to ask for help to go to the playground, or because they might get mocked for losing the game, either were isolated by others or self-iso- lated, sitting alone in the class or playing indoor games. “I don’t like to play because I will fall down. . . It [playground] is full of gravel I don’t like it. . . I will fall . . . I will not go to play. I will be sitting. . . They (friends) don’t call me to play because I will fall.” (A girl, mobility limitation–“cannot do”) Teachers’ attitude. Several teachers were reported to have played positive roles for chil- dren with disabilities, such as by providing small accommodations like having children sit in front of the class or giving additional assistance with lessons, and by disciplining classmates who bullied children with disabilities. One of the caregivers said that a teacher living close by

had encouraged them to send their daughter with cognitive impairment to school and even accompanied the girl to school. PLOS ONE Access to education for children with disabilities PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290016 August 16, 2023 11 / 19