Fact Check
MP Alahapperuma argued that children with disabilities in Sri Lanka are underserved in their educational needs, claiming that 34% of children [with disabilities] do not receive any level of formal education based on the latest available data.
To check this claim, FactCheck.lk consulted the Final Report of the Census of Population and Housing 2012.
The 2012 census counted 88,740 children with physical and mental disabilities* between the ages of 5-19 years. Of this population, 30,308 children (which is 34.1%) were reported to have not been engaging in any educational activities. Therefore, the statistic he cites aligns with data reported by the census.
FactCheck.lk’s was unable to find data more recent than the 2012 census publication regarding education statistics of children with disabilities in Sri Lanka. Therefore, the MP’s claim that these are the latest available official statistics, seems to be correct.
MP Alahapperuma’s claims are well-supported by the latest available official data on education statistics of children with disabilities. Therefore, we classify the MP’s statement as TRUE.
Additional Note 1: The DCS report utilised a set of six questions to identify the population of individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The questions pertained to the difficulty level a respondent experienced engaging in the following activities: (i) seeing, (ii) hearing, (iii) walking or climbing stairs, (iv) remembering or paying attention to something, (v) carrying out daily tasks such as bathing and getting dressed, and (vi) exchanging ideas with others. This survey methodology is consistent with the manual provided by the World Health Organisation to assess disability and the Short Set on Functioning questions developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics.
Sources
Final Report of the Census of Population and Housing 2012