Nearly 2.6 million disabled children either did not see the inside of a school or had to drop out, a report on the 2011 census released on Monday said.
The report said only four million — 61% of India’s 6.6 million disabled population in the 5-19 age group — were studying in an educational institution in 2011.
The proportion of children studying in a school was higher for the total population by 10 percentage points (71%).
Of the rest, 27% (1.75 million) children with special needs never attended any school, while 12% (0.8 million) had dropped out of school.
The census report said the proportion of disabled children, who had never attended any educational institution, was the highest among people with multiple disability (54.4%), followed by mental illness (50.3%) and mental retardation (41.2%).
