The recently released draftKarnatakaCurriculum Framework for the foundational stage (3-8 years) has called for a detailed individualised Education plan for children with special needs.
According to data with the School Achievement Tracking System for 2021, as many as 96,020 children with various forms of disability are enrolled in Karnataka schools. This includes those with visual impairment (14,047), hearing impairment (10,652), speech and language disability (10,024), locomotor impairment, intellectual disability (18,524), and multiple disabilities (10,054).
The draft framework says since the most optimal time to identify delay or disability in a child is at the foundational level, it is crucial that a child be enrolled in preschool. However, teachers or anganwadi workers are not authorised or equipped to make a diagnosis. Instead, they should play a role in early identification recognising symptoms of delay and disability in a non-judgmental manner and refer the parents to seek medical diagnosis.