The Right to Education Bill, likely to be passed by Lok Sabha on Monday, is at the centre of a new row with disability activists alleging that it deliberately excludes disabled children from its ambit, in effect denying some 30 million children their right to education.

These activists, who are accusing Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal of prompting a U-turn in the UPA government’s policy on education for disabled children, want the passage of the Bill to be stalled until it is amended to include provisions for disabled children.

As proof that the previous UPA government was alive to concerns of disabled children, these activists point to previous HRD minister Arjun Singh’s statement to the Lok Sabha of the government’s commitment to primary education for the disabled. They also refer to the 11th five year plan which stresses on inclusive education for the disabled. Most crucially, they rely on the initial, 2005 draft of the Right to Education Bill which had several specific provisions for disabled children. The current draft has done away with many of these provisions.

Sibal denies any change in government policy. “This government is sensitive to the rights of the disabled,” he told The Indian Express; “the current Bill includes disabled children within its ambit.” Sibal has promised that the Right to Education Act will be his signature reform in the first 100 days of this government. He worries that if the Bill is held up now “it won’t be passed for the next three years.”

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