THE government鈥檚 discontinuing its support for the national academy for children with special needs at a time when there are barely any facilities to ensure access to education for children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders is disconcerting. The Planning Commission on August 4 decided to close the academy on the grounds that the implementation of the project is unsatisfactory and if there is the need, the government will take up a similar project in future. The National Academy for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disability project was undertaken in 2014 to promote the inclusion of special needs children in the mainstream and included the establishment of a national academy with residential facilities for 200 children. The initial budget allocation for the project was Tk 74.1 crore, which rose to Tk 730.6 crore, and the completion deadline was extended three times to July 2027. Except for acquiring land for the national academy and training teachers, the project made very little progress. The time and cost overruns in project implementation was common under the deposed Awami League government and the assessment of the project implementation is, therefore, a welcome move, but the decision to withdraw support and close the academy, instead of addressing the implementation failure, is a move that the government should reconsider.
Recognising the significance of the project in supporting children with special needs, the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education requested the government to continue with the project. The Society for the Welfare of the Intellectually Disabled Bangladesh in February wrote to the directorate urging the continuation of the project. The unaddressed need for the children with neurodevelopmental disabilities is reported in a recent survey, which says that two-thirds of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities have no access to education, pointing to the neglect and systemic barriers that the children continue to face. According to the National Survey on Persons with Disabilities 2021, there are about 4.5 million people with disabilities. The majority of them remain excluded from educational opportunities, even at the primary level. When the government needs to improve access for special-needs children and allocate resources to identify the factors that contribute to the rise of autism, the decision to stop the minimum support that exists is unacceptable.
The government should, therefore, revisit its decision of closing the project. In doing so, it should identify the reasons for the unsatisfactory implementation of the project and step up project monitoring. The withdrawal of support for a project of public interest is not an option.
