Prevalence of Mental
Retardation is significant in urban as well as rural areas. The history of
training professionals in the field of mental retardation is of recent origin
in India. In the field of special education, the first training center was
started in 1953 at Bombay by a voluntary agency, which offered a diploma in
teaching persons with mental retardation. Two more centers, one each at Madras
and Mumbai, initiated training program in special education in 1971. By
1980, there were nine special education training centers in the country. By
1986, there were only six training centers and the remaining centers had been
closed down. In 1995, the number of centers offering training was 40. Out of these, 27 were recognized and approved by Rehabilitation Council of India.
