http://www.thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=448739&catid=72
Guidelines confuse visually impaired candidates before primary teachers’ recruitment tests 21 March 2013 statesman news service KOLKATA, 21 MARCH: Visually-impaired candidates for the primary school teacher test scheduled later this month are worried they won't be able to sit the exam, because of confusion among officials over guidelines for disabled applicants. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's Department of Disabilities last month issued a set of “uniform guidelines” on how to conduct exams for people with disabilities. Under the guidelines, people with a disability should be allowed to choose how to take the exam, for example in braille, using a computer or in large print. They should also be allowed extra time to complete the papers, and people with a disability of over 40 per cent are allowed a scribe. The West Bengal Primary Education Council has given only one guideline to district officials, though, telling them that candidates can use a scribe who is a student of Class IX or X, said Ms Shampa Sengupta, a Kolkata-based activist. “No other provisions are dealt with. To make things worse, every district office is giving different directions of how to apply for a scribe,” she said, adding that as many as 500 people might be affected by the confusion. Mr Tridev Samanta, from West Midnapore, is hoping to take the exam and become a primary school teacher. But he's 100 per cent visually-impaired, he said, and has been trying to work out how he can get a scribe to help him sit the exam. Different district officials are telling him different things, said Mr Samanta. Some say bring a photo of your scribe and name, some say fill out a certain form, others say he needs a letter with permission from the parent of the scribe. He's worried he'll pick one route and then it'll be the wrong one. “I don't want to just go to the exam and then be rejected,” he said. Mr Samanta wants the state government to issue clear detailed rules that officials and disabled candidates can follow. Ms Sengupta said she, and other representatives from the Paschim Banga Rajya Partibandhi Sammelani, met with Dr Aloke Bhattacharya, the deputy secretary at the West Bengal Council of Primary Education yesterday, to express their concerns. She said it was a positive meeting, but there is very little time left to sort out the confusion. “Chances of implementation of the same in this year’s examination is almost impossible,” she said, “and visually disabled candidates of West Bengal will once again be deprived of their rights that have been granted to them by the Central Government.” 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
