A shot in the dark: The state of higher education for persons with disabilities
In Bangladesh, the hurdles for the physically challenged are not always limited to the admission system or study materials alone. The infrastructure of the institute often poses a major barrier
Nahian Bushra is a visually impaired student who recently graduated from the department of International Relations, University of Dhaka. While her education prior to university was relatively smooth sailing, her years at DU were a struggle.
"The government provides braille books for the visually impaired at the primary level, which is helpful. But at the intermediate level, since the books are from different writers, braille books are not available," Bushra said, adding there are recordings of such books made available by different organisations and individuals, which help a lot.
"At the university level, visually impaired students face problems due to lack of Bangla e-books, or machine readability or braille books. Students like me whose books are in the English language, of course, can manage it by using different text reading software," continued Bushra.
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Bushra also relied on the Physically-challenged Development Foundation, an organisation that provides recordings of books and other necessary support for students with different disabilities. There is also a section in the Central Library at the University of Dhaka for blind students with limited support material.
Bushra's graduation, however, is progress. For the longest time, persons with physical disabilities (PWDs) could not seek admission to most Bangladeshi universities. In the late-1990s, PWD students went on a hunger strike in Chittagong University, as a result of which the authorities bowed down to their demand and opened the doors of the universities.
Today, students with different disabilities can seek admission to all universities in the country. There are quotas in the universities for physically challenged students, but the supportive facilities which are necessary for them are largely absent.
For example, not every institute has accessibility for wheelchair-borne students. There are hardly any braille books for the visually impaired and necessary facilities for students with hearing and speech impairments. Moreover, Maths is not taught to visually impaired students at the school level, which is why people like Bushra cannot pursue higher studies in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths).
The infrastructure of the institute often poses a major barrier as well.
"Only a limited number of people with special needs can actually come up to higher education level. Because a small percentage of such persons can access earlier levels of education and continue pursuing that. Then a large portion of those enrolled actually drop out of education due to various barriers."
"I never went to the bathroom in the university, those were not accessible for PWDs. Nowadays, of course, there are a handful of accessible toilets here and there, but they are too few," said Nazma Ara Begum Poppy, a sociology graduate from the University of Dhaka.
Poppy also pointed out the other challenges she faced. "For students with disabilities, especially visual impairment, it's too difficult. We could not study in the central library [at the University of Dhaka], because it is supposed to be a quiet place, and we needed to listen to our friends or aides reading aloud academic materials for us," said Poppy.
She said it was also very expensive, because blind students had to pay the readers for their help. Of course, many friends voluntarily helped her with her studies. Also, getting a scribe (a person who writes down a student's dictated answers in an examination) for the exams was another hassle, Poppy added.
Visually impaired students can use scribes who are one or two years junior to the former. Despite the availability of speech-to-text technologies, the exam system for such students has not been updated, still resorting to the age-old scribe system.
Baby steps
Under a government-sponsored Aspire to Innovate (a2i) programme, the University of Chittagong has introduced a disability quota system and streamlined the admissions process. Accessible reading materials are available, as are fellowships for students with disabilities. There are over 300 free online courses, which students can access through MuktoPaath, a self-directed digital learning platform.
Students with disabilities can also use university computers and smartphones. For those who've never used such devices before, training is available.
Vashkar Bhattacharjee, a visually impaired person who took part in the hunger strike after facing challenges getting admitted to the University in 1997, now works as the National Consultant for the programme.
He said, "UGC has issued a circular to take initiatives to make the universities inclusive - to scale up our inclusive university project in order to alleviate the barriers to admission and studies for the PWDs."
"I don't think people are aware that there is a quota system for the PWDs. We need to work on this," Vashkar added.
Different universities follow a different quota system for physically challenged admission seekers. Rajshahi University allocates a 3% quota, while in Dhaka University, it is 1%. Jahangirnagar University and Chittagong University admit 15 and 20 students respectively every year.
Most other universities, on the other hand, do not have a specified number or percentage for the quota, but they do allow such students based on their eligibility. The admission seekers, of course, have to secure the required passing mark in the admission test.
While other PWDs can pursue STEM subjects, visually impaired students can only get admitted to arts and social science departments. This is an advancement considering the fact that Vashkar had to study arts although he wanted to study social science.
During his days at the university, Vashkar faced many problems including the lack of braille books. After graduation, he also had a hard time finding a job. Of course, eventually, he finally overcame his predicaments and had a successful career, showing that persons with disabilities can do wonders if given proper opportunities.
Unleashing the potential
When barriers are removed or eased, PWDs can become high achievers. Suraiya Akter Babli, a former student of Jahangirnagar University with a congenital visual disability, recently became the first blind woman to get a PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Suraiya had to face a lot of challenges in her academic journey in Bangladesh as most of the students and faculties did not have any orientation on teaching or guiding someone with blindness. However, the Physically-challenged Development Foundation (PDF) also helped her in her struggle.
Once she went abroad, Suraiya got plenty of support from her university during her PhD.
"The Disability Resource Centre at the university was always making sure I felt comfortable. My department and classmates were also super supportive and ensured that I have access to all academic materials and accommodations to accomplish my academic goal," she said. Suraiya also received a fellowship from the university as she was not able to work as a teaching assistant.
A systemic failure
Bangladesh has enacted laws to ensure the rights of PWDs. Persons with Disabilities Rights And Protection Act 2013 stresses that physically challenged persons should not face any obstacle in receiving education, and there will be a supportive environment in educational institutes to that end.
"The law is fine, but the reality is different. PWDs face challenges in every step - the commute to the educational institute, the accessibility and environment there - everything is unconducive to their needs. Also, there is an unfriendly attitude towards disabled persons, which bars the inclusion of such students in the educational institutes," said Jowaherul Islam Mamun, Mentor of Swid Bangladesh, an organisation that works in the field of disabilities.
People of all walks of life, especially those in the government and various authorities should be made aware of the law, the Swid official stressed.
According to the UN and WHO, 10-15% of any population has special needs. However, Bangladesh Government data shows PWDs comprise only 2-3% of the country's population. Experts say that this gap exists because of inappropriate identification and documentation of such persons done by laypersons involved in census activities. Parents' tendency to hide the disabilities of their children also plays a role in this. They also emphasise that the underestimation has a profound impact on the planning and designing of infrastructure, which most often ignores the needs of PWDs.
All these result in serious deprivation of such persons.
"Only a limited number of people with special needs can actually come up to higher education level. Because a small percentage of such persons can access earlier levels of education and continue pursuing that. Then a large portion of those enrolled actually drop out of education due to various barriers," Dr Tariq Ahsan, a professor of the Institute of Education and Research at the University of Dhaka told The Business Standard.
"The concepts of inclusion have never been mainstreamed here. Only about 1% of the special needs population can access higher education as a result," he added.
"For a long time, our education system has been based on memorisation, and in a small part, analysis and synthesis ability. This is not very learner-friendly. This is not a barrier only for the disabled population, but for everyone. This is why we see students dropping out at grades 4, grade 5 and grades 8 and 10.
Another great dropout occurs after the completion of grade 12. Overall, 70% of all who got enrolled at the primary level drop out," said the professor, setting the context.
In such a system which is not effective even for the general population, the challenges are double for the PWDs, the professor said.
"Although there are quotas, scholarships and other support mechanisms for PWDs, unless 4As - access, active participation, achievement and acceptance - are ensured, the education environment and employability will not be achieved. There are still barriers in this regard," Professor Ahsan said.
In terms of employability, the professor mentioned that technical or vocational education is not popular in Bangladesh, which could help many PWDs cope in the job market. However, he thinks that many such people also have gifted abilities to be able to achieve academic excellence as well, provided that they avail proper environment.
