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More than 20,000 regular schools have no ramps for persons with disabilities (PwDs), 28,843 schools have no handrails, and over 52,000 schools are without toilets for children with special needs in Karnataka, said a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report.
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More than 20,000 regular schools have no ramps for persons with disabilities (PwDs), 28,843 schools have no handrails, and over 52,000 schools are without toilets for children with special needs (CWSN) in Karnataka, said a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report.
The report said that out of 51,464 regular schools in the State, 20,366 have no ramps for easy movement of PwDs. In Bengaluru urban district alone, 3,223 schools have not constructed ramps for the benefit of children with physical disabilities.
Bengaluru at bottom
Bengaluru Urban district, which has a population of 2.74 persons with disabilities (PwDs), occupied the last position with a dismal performance of 9% in the disbursal of unique ID for persons with disabilities (UDIDs), the CAG report for the year 2024 noted.
The report of the CAG on the implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, noted that implementation of the UDID project in the State was slow. As of December 31, 2022, only 46% of the differently abled persons were issued with the UDIDs in the State.
Uttara Kannada topped among the districts with an achievement of 78% of applications, said the report tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
As per the 2011 Census, Karnataka has 13.24 lakh people with disabilities, which is 4.94% of the total persons with disabilities in the country (2.68 crore). Out of 9.9 lakh applications received in the State, it said 8.11 lakh applications were disposed of while 1.79 lakh applications were still pending without disposal.
CSR in Bengaluru
It said CSR funds for special education schools were primarily concentrated in Bengaluru with only seven institutions receiving grants of ₹207.65 crore during 2017-22.
The Department of Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens is responsible for providing rehabilitation, education, economic opportunities and ensuring a barrier-free environment and other services to facilitate the integration of persons with disabilities into the mainstream of society.
The CAG said out of the total 464 sanctioned posts in the department, only 162 were filled, and 302 posts remained vacant.
During 2017-18 – 2022-23, the department had not spent ₹137.95 crore (12%) and funds were not used to distribute motorised vehicles, the report said.
High voter turnout
Following efforts by the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka to provide accessibility to PwDs, PwD voter turnout in the State increased from 67% in the 2013 Assembly elections to 76% in the 2018 Assembly polls and 80% in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. There were 5.71 lakh PwD voters in the State during the 2023 Assembly polls.
The CAG report noted that 88% of the libraries did not have accessible toilets and furniture for PwDs and 38% of the libraries did not provide for ease of access into the library.
Though special schools were established for various categories of students with disabilities, the performance of many of these institutions was far from satisfactory in terms of the availability of infrastructure and accessibility features. The inadequate qualification of teachers and continued vacancies were hampering the education of PwDs, the report noted.
