Educational Settings for Children with Multiple Disabilities

When it comes to educating children with multiple disabilities – those living with two or more co-occurring conditions such as intellectual disability combined with visual impairment, cerebral palsy with hearing loss, or autism alongside physical disability – one single approach rarely fits all. Every child has a unique profile of strengths, challenges, and support needs. That is exactly why the education system, particularly in India, has evolved to offer multiple settings where these children can learn and grow. Understanding the differences between these settings – special schools, inclusive schools, and home-based education – is important for parents, educators, and anyone working in the field of disability and rehabilitation.

Why the setting matters 🔗

The educational setting is not just a physical location. It determines the quality of instruction a child receives, the type of peers they interact with, the therapeutic support available, and ultimately, how prepared they are for life beyond school. For children with multiple disabilities, choosing the right setting involves considering the severity and nature of their conditions, available resources in the region, family circumstances, and the child’s specific learning needs. Research from the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities confirms that parental decisions about schooling are deeply influenced by geographical location, the extent of the child’s disability, and the availability of services nearby.

Special schools: The most established setting in India 🔗

Special schools are the most widely recognised and historically established setting for children with multiple disabilities in India. Managed under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, these schools are specifically designed for children who have difficulty functioning in regular school environments due to the severity of their disabilities. They bring together trained special educators, therapists, and support staff under one roof, making multidisciplinary care far more accessible than in mainstream settings.

Residential vs. day special schools 🔗

Special schools in India operate in two main formats: residential (with hostel facilities) and day schools. Residential special schools provide round-the-clock care, accommodation, food, and educational and therapeutic programs, making them a practical option for families living far from the school or those unable to provide full-time caregiving support at home. Many residential special schools, including those run by NGOs like Samarthanam Trust in Bengaluru, offer services completely free of cost. Day schools, on the other hand, allow children to return home each day, maintaining family bonds while still benefiting from specialised instruction.

According to available data, over 3,000 special schools for children with disabilities are functioning across India, out of which approximately 1,000 cater to children with intellectual disabilities, around 900 focus on hearing impairment, 400 on visual impairment, and the remaining 700 on physical disabilities. A large majority of these schools are located in urban areas and are run by voluntary organisations rather than the government directly.

What special schools offer 🔗

The key advantage of a special school is the concentration of expertise. Qualified special educators trained by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) design and deliver individualised instruction. Many schools also employ speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and psychologists. The curriculum is adapted to each child’s functional level, and the teacher-to-student ratio is kept deliberately low – for instance, some residential special schools maintain a 1:7 ratio to ensure individual attention. Activities like life skills training, vocational education, yoga, arts, and recreational programs form an important part of the routine, supporting holistic development beyond academics.

The limitation: Social segregation 🔗

Despite their strengths, special schools come with a significant drawback. By educating children with disabilities separately from their non-disabled peers, these schools can lead to social segregation. Children may grow up with limited exposure to the wider community, which can affect their social skills, confidence, and long-term inclusion in society. As noted by special education practitioners, when children study in different environments, it can also affect how non-disabled children perceive and relate to those with disabilities, potentially reinforcing rather than reducing social barriers. This is a key reason why inclusive education has increasingly been promoted as a complementary or alternative approach.

Inclusive schools: Learning together 🔗

Inclusive education brings children with and without disabilities into the same classroom, the same school, and the same learning community. The principle is straightforward: every child has the right to be educated alongside their peers, with the support systems necessary to make that possible. India’s National Education Policy 2020 strongly endorses inclusive education, emphasising equity and equal participation for children with special needs across all stages of schooling. The policy advocates a whole-school approach – resourcing school complexes, engaging special educators, and building teacher capacity so that the environment adapts to children rather than the other way around.

What inclusive schools require 🔗

Running a genuinely inclusive school is not simply a matter of enrolling a child with disabilities in a regular class. It requires a combination of physical accessibility, trained personnel, and adapted teaching methods. Under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the government’s integrated scheme for school education, schools are expected to provide ramps with handrails, accessible toilets, therapeutic services, assistive devices, and teaching-learning materials adapted for children with special needs. Special educators – previously called Inclusive Education Resource Teachers – are appointed to support mainstream teachers in addressing the diverse learning needs within a single classroom.

However, ground realities often fall short. According to a comprehensive review of disability and education in India, fewer than 40% of school buildings have ramps and only around 17% have accessible restrooms. Less than 1% of educational institutions in the country are fully disabled-friendly. Research examining rural government schools found that 87% of teachers in Delhi schools lacked access to classroom support services, and the government’s own target of one special educator for every five children with special needs at the block level was far from being achieved across states.

The legal framework supporting inclusion 🔗

India’s commitment to inclusive education is backed by strong legislation. The Inclusive Education of the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) scheme, launched in 2009 and later subsumed under Samagra Shiksha, was designed to enable students with disabilities to complete secondary education in inclusive, enabling environments. The Right to Education Act (2009) mandates free and compulsory education for all children between 6 and 14, explicitly including children with disabilities, and requires that they be educated in the least restrictive environment possible. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 further strengthened these provisions.

Benefits and challenges of inclusion 🔗

When implemented well, inclusive education benefits both children with and without disabilities. For children with multiple disabilities, being in a regular classroom promotes social interaction, communication, and a sense of belonging. For non-disabled peers, it builds empathy and an understanding of diversity from an early age. That said, children with severe or complex multiple disabilities may not always receive adequate support in an inclusive setting, especially where trained staff, assistive technology, or individualised instruction remain limited. This is where home-based education becomes particularly relevant.

Home-based education: Reaching those left behind 🔗

For children whose disabilities are too severe for them to attend any school – whether special or inclusive – or for those living in remote areas where neither type of school is accessible, home-based education fills a critical gap. This model involves trained professionals, including special educators and therapists, visiting the child’s home to deliver instruction and therapeutic interventions directly. Just as importantly, these professionals train parents and caregivers to carry out the interventions in between visits, effectively turning the home into an extension of the learning environment.

How it works under Samagra Shiksha 🔗

Under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, home-based education is available for children with severe or multiple disabilities up to Grade 12. Government-appointed resource persons visit allocated areas to identify out-of-school children with disabilities, conduct assessments of their educational and daily living needs, and create individualised intervention plans. These plans are carried out in fifteen-day cycles, with parents trained during each visit to continue the teaching at home until the next session. In 2023-24, this provision covered 72,186 students across India with an outlay of ₹20.68 crore. Additionally, the government has introduced dedicated itinerant resource teachers who visit homes of students with severe disabilities, with the frequency of visits shaped by the parents’ needs and circumstances.

The role of parents as co-educators 🔗

In the home-based model, parents are not passive recipients of services – they are active participants. Research conducted by Tamahar Trust in Bengaluru found that in children with moderate disabilities, active parental involvement enables a developmental leap of around eight and a half months over a twelve-month period. This is a striking finding, highlighting just how powerful consistent, trained parental engagement can be. Professionals who implement home-based training also focus on teaching functional life skills – dressing, hygiene, communication, eating – not just academic content, making the approach especially valuable for children with profound and multiple disabilities.

Limitations of home-based education 🔗

Home-based education works best when supported adequately. The reality, however, is often more challenging. Many parents – especially in low-income households – are already working demanding jobs, leaving little time or energy to also serve as their child’s primary educator and therapist. Practitioners working in this field have pointed out that accessible and clear guidelines for parents, along with mental health support for caregivers who carry significant emotional burdens, remain critically underdeveloped. Physical barriers like narrow lanes and lack of accessible transport also make home visits difficult, particularly in informal settlements and rural areas.

Comparing the three settings 🔗

Each educational setting serves a different segment of children with multiple disabilities, and none is universally superior. Special schools offer the deepest concentration of specialised support, but can limit social integration. Inclusive schools promote participation in mainstream society but often struggle with inadequate infrastructure and trained personnel. Home-based education reaches the most severely affected children who cannot access any physical institution, but depends heavily on well-trained caregivers and consistent professional follow-up. In practice, many children may move between these settings at different stages of their development, and the most effective outcomes tend to emerge when all three settings work in coordination – with special schools supporting inclusive schools through teacher training, and home-based educators linking families to broader services.

Globally, frameworks like the Salamanca Statement (1994) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have long advocated for inclusive education as a fundamental right, while recognising that different children require different levels of support. India’s policy landscape reflects this understanding, with legislation and schemes that acknowledge the need for a continuum of services rather than a single, one-size-fits-all solution.

What do you think? Should special schools and inclusive schools work more closely together – sharing resources, expertise, and strategies – rather than operating as separate systems? And for families with children who have severe multiple disabilities, what kind of support do you think would make home-based education more effective and sustainable?

References

1. https://nasenjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9604.70020
2. https://depwd.gov.in/en/national-institutes/
3. https://samarthanam.org/education/
4. https://enabled.in/wp/special-schools/
5. https://www.k12digest.com/inclusive-education-for-children-with-special-needs/
6. https://dsel.education.gov.in/en/inclusive-education
7. https://samagra.education.gov.in/inclusive.html
8. https://www.jkpi.org/inclusive-education-for-children-with-disabilities-in-india-a-comprehensive-overview/
9. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1034912X.2021.1917525
10. https://www.education.gov.in/en/iedss
11. https://www.21kschool.com/us/blog/special-needs-education-in-india/
12. https://citizenmatters.in/home-based-education-bridging-the-gap-for-children-with-disabilities/
13. https://scoonews.com/news/indian-government-introduces-home-based-education-for-children-with-disabilities/
14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554622/