KP Sharma

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has introduced systematic pathways in schools across the country to better identify and support children facing educational difficulties and disabilities.

The initiative will address the widespread public confusion and distinguish the two conditions.

An official from the Early Childhood Care and Development and Special Educational Needs (SEN) division explained that schools prioritise medical diagnoses provided by health professionals when admitting children with disabilities.

“When children with disabilities apply for admission, schools inquire if they have been assessed by a health professional,” the official said.

However, children with invisible disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities or learning difficulties, often remain undiagnosed by health professionals. For these students, schools rely on educational assessments conducted by teachers to identify challenges and provide support.

“The assessment done by the teachers is not a clinical assessment, which is often misinterpreted by the general public,” the official said.

In schools, teachers conduct educational assessments, not diagnostic assessments, and for children with educational difficulties, teachers explore various ways to support them. For instance, if a child struggles to read like their peers, teachers provide additional support to help improve the student’s skills.

Learning difficulties, the official added, are generally not categorised as disabilities. “Once a child reaches school, we conduct assessments systematically, not randomly. We have a process in place.”

When a child first joins the school, teachers observe the student through a learning readiness process. “It takes time to identify learning disabilities because we need to observe the child across several months in various aspects,” the official added.

If a child shows signs of difficulties, they are referred to SEN teachers for further evaluation and tailored support. If no progress is observed, the next step is a clinical assessment.

The official said that teachers are trained to conduct functional assessments at the school level. “These are formal assessments practiced in other countries,” he said.

When a child experiences learning difficulties, teachers provide the necessary support and educational assistance.

The purpose of the assessment at the school level is to identify the difficulties, not to label the child as having a disability.

The recent National Health Survey report revealed that there are 48,325 persons with disabilities in Bhutan, making up 6.8 percent of the population.

This data only includes individuals aged five and older who self-reported a disability during the survey, conducted across 20 dzongkhags. Experts suggest that the actual number could be higher.

The survey also provided insights into the prevalence of various types of disabilities. The most common were related to self-care at 2.4 percent, followed by hearing and mobility disabilities, each at 2 percent. Further, vision impairments were reported at 1.8 percent, cognitive disabilities at 1.5 percent, and communication difficulties at 0.8 percent.