ASIA/INDIA - Disabled children deprived of medical care and schooling

New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) - In India there are between 40 and 80 million disabled people, about 2.1% of the population. Among these, 60% are children and the most affected are children under 14 years of age. There are no official figures, but NGOs estimate that about 90% of these children do not have the right to education. Only in 2011, 4 million people with disabilities were registered in the district of Guntur. Despite the country's Constitution provides for equality, freedom, justice and dignity for all, the reality is very different. Disabled people are marginalized and forced to live in poverty, many children do not have any type of care, others are abandoned, most end up on the streets alone and malnourished. Since 1976, the Salesian missionaries have opened the Don Bosco Premnivas Centre, where 100 children with disabilities share education with "healthy" people. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 12/05/2014)