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

Regularity of going to school. Most enrolled children attended school regularly except when they had an occasional illness such as fever or cold. However, over a third reported being absent from school two more days in a week for reasons like not having anyone available to drop them at school, lack of available transportation, worsening severity of the disability and underlying health conditions, and fear of getting scolded by the teachers. For example, the mother of a girl with progressive mobility impairment described that her daughter often refu- ses to go to school even though the children and teachers at school were friendly to her as she is worried about falling over and hurting herself: “. . . She is been weaker in this one year; it [disability] increased after giving her tablets bought from Madras . . . It [going to school] depends on her mood. . .. She is falling and getting injured. . . if she wishes to go to school, she will get ready and go. Otherwise, even if we make her get ready and drag her out of the house and beat her up, she will not go to school. Then, after going to school she will keep crying and the teacher tells me not to beat her and let her come to school if she can.” (Mother of a girl, mobility limitation–“cannot do”) Getting to school. Many children were dropped and picked up from school by their family members for multiple reasons like difficulty in walking, as a safer option (as they got pushed or teased on the way), and for carrying the school bags. They went on a bicycle or

motorcycle or walked to school if they could. Therefore, for some children, attending school depended on the availability of a family member to accompany them. Getting children dressed and ready to go to school is an additional challenge for families, particularly those with self-care and cognitive limitations. Difficulty in reaching school because there was no one to accompany the child to school or transport being costly led some parents to discon- tinue their children from schooling. One of the mothers described the challenge of sending their child to school as: “I stopped him because it is difficult to go to school and come back. There is no bus in this vil- lage. We used to go by auto, it is Rupees 100 to drop him at school and Rupees 100 in the evening. . . he studied like this for two years. . . so we stopped him as we found it difficult.” (Mother of a boy, mobility limitation–“a lot of difficulty”) Experience at school Physical accessibility. Children, particularly those with mobility limitations, faced diffi- culties independently moving around in the school. For example, some experienced chal- lenges to enter classrooms that were not on the ground floor, going to the playground and toilet or going to the teachers’ or headmasters’ room. This poor physical accessibility restricted some children with disabilities to their classrooms, preventing them from fully participating in all school events, such as school assemblies and social time on the play- ground during breaks. Requiring children to ask for assistance from their teachers and peers

to move around the school could lead to feelings of embarrassment, lack of autonomy, and social exclusion. “He stays alone in class when other children are playing. I asked why he does not ask his class- mates to carry him to the ground and back to class, and for that he replied–‘how many days PLOS ONE Access to education for children with disabilities PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290016 August 16, 2023 8 / 19