International Day for Persons with Disabilities: Mainstreaming the concerns of differently-abled children in India’s digital education

Digital technology has emerged as a panacea for sustaining continuity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the wake of the suspension of classroom teaching, e-learning has come to the rescue of students. By enabling anytime, anywhere, access to lessons, e-learning, along with emerging technologies, have a tremendous potential to integrate the concerns of differently-abled children into mainstream education.

Unfortunately, this goal of e-learning is yet to be achieved both inside and outside classrooms. According to the 2011 Census, only 57% of differently-abled males between the age of 5 and 19 years attend schools. The situation is grimmer for female students who are at a higher risk of discrimination owing to their disability as well as gender concerns.

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