A NEW government resolution issued by the state education department ushers in fresh hope for differently-abled students as the state has made it mandatory for a slew of facilities to be provided right from Class I itself to ensure these students get adequate opportunities for education. http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/give-facilities-for-special-students-from-class-i-itself/ Until now, facilities like a writer in exams for blind students, extra 20 marks grace to pass deaf students who have failed in a subject, extra time and consideration for spastic students in drawing maps, lesser marks allotted to spelling/punctuation exams for autistic students and so on, were only offered for students in the Class X and Class XII Board exams. Now, government wants to extend the benefits to students right from Class I.
Tweeting about it, State Education Minister Vinod Tawde said that the new GR is focussing on the difficulties faced by special children in exams. “This will certainly help Maharashtra’s differently-abled children,” he said. The 10-page GR, dated January 8, says that one of the mandates of the Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan is Inclusive Education for Disabled, especially for students who are studying in regular schools. To ensure that special students are able to cope with the regular students, a different pattern of evaluation needs to be adopted for them. A committee had been set up to give recommendations on what facilities should be provided for differently-abled students. “Until now, facilities were being provided to the students of Class X and Class XII Board exams. But there was no formal GR that would mandate schools to extend the same facilities to students in lower classes. As a result, schools would provide the facilities that they think are necessary. Since there was no uniformity and also owing to the fact that the state education department wants differently-abled students to get opportunities, the decision was taken to implement such facilities from school-level itself,” said Gangadhar Mhamane, chairman of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Besides evaluation and exam, the GR also mandates that instead of making it mandatory to chose two languages and four subjects, students be allowed choice of one language and five subjects. Meanwhile, schools also welcomed the new order. Sulabha Pujari, principal of the Pune Blind School for Girls in Kothrud said it was a good idea. “Introducing some facilities in Class X directly creates some confusion among students. If a student is given a writer right from school level, they will know early how to work with them,” she said. Principal Atmaram Dhootonde of Ruia School for hearing impaired students also welcomed the decision. “To introduce at primary means strengthening students from lower grades,” he said. -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Celebrating Louis Braill birthday, Jan. 4th. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
