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

Medical College, Vellore as an amendment to the DeWorm3 study in India (10392 [INTER- VEN]; IRB–A08, December 28, 2019). Informed written consent was obtained from all care- givers who were interviewed. Caregivers’ consent and child assent—verbal for interviews with children 7–11 years and written for children 12–17 years, were obtained for interviewing. Adaptations were available to support the direct participation of children with disabilities, including sign language interpretation and simplified information sheets/topic guides. Results In total, information about the schooling of 40 children with disabilities was gathered through 40 caregivers and 20 child interviews (Table 1). All the selected children or caregivers agreed to participate. Of these 40 children included in the final sample, 20 (10 boys and 10 girls) were enrolled in school and 20 (10 boys and 10 girls) were not going to school at the time data was collected. All the 40 children selected for the study had varying degree of functional limitation ranging from ‘a lot of difficulty’ to ‘cannot’ in mobility, cognitive, vision, hearing, and anxiety/ depression. Except for four children living with their aunts or grandparents, all were living Table 1. Description of the study sample. Characteristics Number Caregivers interviewed (40) of girls in school 10 of girls out of school 10 of boys in school 10 of boys out of school 10 Children interviewed (20) Girls in school 5 Girls out of school 5 Boys in school 5 Boys out of school 5 Type of disability (40) Vision 4 Hearing 3 Mobility 19 Cognition 8

Mental Health 6 Caregiver-child relationship (40) Mother 27 Father 7 Aunt 3 Grandmother 2 Sister 1 Level of schooling among enrolled children (20) Special school 1 Primary education (Grade 1–5) 2 Middle education (Grade 6–8) 8 Secondary education (Grade 9–10) 5 Higher secondary education (Grade 11–12) 4 Level of schooling among out of school children (20) Never went to school 2 Special school 1 Pre-school 1 Primary education (Grade 1–5) 6 Middle education (Grade 6–8) 5 Secondary education (Grade 9–10) 4 Higher secondary education (Grade 11–12) 1 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290016.t001 PLOS ONE Access to education for children with disabilities PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290016 August 16, 2023 5 / 19