Though free and compulsory primary education is available to most differently abled children, the lack of opportunities in the area of higher education remains a critical concern in India, according to Pavan John Antony, Associate Professor, Adelphi University, New York.
Speaking to an audience that included parents of differently abled children about the need to provide higher education to children with special needs at the three-day International Conference on Comprehensive Education for Children with Special Needs, Dr. Antony spoke about the opportunities for higher education available to differently abled children in foreign countries, and the challenges the children face in India.
Children with disabilities often have their parents or other people help them perform even their basic tasks. But what we tend to forget is that these children are capable of doing things without any assistance, whatsoever. Parents need to understand that. Children with disabilities should be given the opportunity to do things on their own, he said.
