Hi, I do not think that we will lose anything if special schools become extinct, read on for why I think so. Be informed that I am reside in Mumbai, and my situation may vary from those in West Bengal. I am personally studying in an inclusive educational system, grade 7, and instead of conversion of study material in Braille, I would prefer it to be converted into accessible e-formats, such as DAISY or as plain Word documents, because of the following reasons: Braille is after all a language only for the blind, sighted people cannot review Braille work, and personally, I would encourage visually impaired students to gain knowledge of a word processor, rather than keep learning different sorts of Braille contractions. Today, the scenario is that laptops are cheaper than Braillers, and you cannot add the cost of a screen reader, since you do have the free screen reader NVDA, and by means you can get JAWS (though that shouldn't be discussed here). In my case, I don't think my teachers have to do any extra work for me, only my mother converts my study material into a Word file, and the rest of the work is done by me, that can be done by any other visually impaired student, please clarify why do you think visually impaired students need more attention? In terms of infrastructure not being accessible in mainstream schools, what is inaccessible? I am not being sarcastic or any such thing, just trying to ask, politely. In my case, any sighted friend near me at that particular instance puts my hand on his shoulder and off we go, nothing great about that either, a very simple and practical solution for moving around in my school. When we are talking about special educators, they have a one time duty, they give the student adequate computer training and other necessary training, and 90% of their job is done. If I have any questions/problems (which I did used to have when I had just become completely blind), I simply go to the special educator (in my case, Ms. Calveena Dselva in Xavier Resource Centre For the Visually Challenged) and get my doubts clarified. I don't see why special educators need to meet the student regularly. I do not know of which scheme you are talking about, so I won't be able to comment on that. By the way, if you could share some information about it, it would be interesting. 'When children with special needs require special training, we are thrusting them into an atmosphere where they feel lonely and isolated. They memorise some rhymes and stories, but they seldom learn arithmetic. As a result they grow up with an inferiority complex.' I am thirteen, and matured enough to comment on this statement as well. So, isolation in my case, certainly no, I have done trekking along with my sighted classmates, I go to school excursions, have gone for overnight stays, and doen everything that sighted children would do, again, nothing great about that, I have only done what was possible, and I am old enough to know what is sympathy and what is friendship, those of my sighted classmates who know me enough (80% do) treat me equally, though I do admit that the remaining 20% with whom I haven't spen much time, treat me a bit differently, I am matured enough to ignore that, because I hardly ever interact with that 20%. With respect to learning mathematics, Ms. Rebecca Carvalho has joined XRCVC, and is in charge of maths and Science Access. I was equal in terms of maths with my friends even before she joined, but the difference is that before she joined I used to do my Maths mentally, and now I write it in Word. Maths is probably my favourite subject, and I do participate in competitive examinations involving mathematics and have got quite distinguished ranks in them. I am not boasting about myself, simply stating what is possible, from my example. I study all other subjects, and will do them till the end of my schooling. '1. There should be some financial incentive for the parents who send their children to special schools' Why so? What extra do parents of blind children pay for, apart from a laptop (which would have to be otherwise substituted by a more expensive Brailler)? 2. The block-level social welfare officer should try to find a special school for a child with special needs and when no such facility is available, only then the child should be enrolled in Inclusive Education.' Why so? What are the drawbacks of inclusive education? Rajesh Sir, In the name of bein realistic you are not trying to think of what could be possible, and what things are already possible. I can't comment on special education up to the primary level, because though I do know of blind children studying happily in lower standards, I personally was fairly sighted when I studied in my lower standards.
On 10/30/14, Asudani, Rajesh <[email protected]> wrote: > Well articulated and totally realistic concerns. > I have been since long of the opinion that special education at least upto > upper primary level is a must. > So, let us better the lot of special schools than harp on so-called > inclusive education from primary level. > SSA was at best a government scheme and its fate and that of its employees > is precarious. > Less said about students' destiny! > > > With thanks and regards > > > (Rajesh Asudani) > > Assistant General Manager > Market Intelligence Unit > Reserve Bank of India > Nagpur > > Tel.: 0712 2806358 > (In youth you want things, and then in middle-age you want to want them.) > > > -----Original Message----- > From: AccessIndia [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Amiyo Biswas > Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 2:10 PM > To: [email protected] > Cc: J L Kaul; Dipendra Manocha > Subject: [AI] Regarding Inclusive Education and Special School. > > Dear Friends, > > Recently I met some of my teacher friends at a meeting of Blind Persons' > Association. We were sharing our experiences in our respective fields. We > were all surprised to learn that special schools are not getting students > after inclusive education was introduced. There are hardly a handful of > special schools for us. If these schools with a very low roll strength do > not get sufficient students, what will be the lot of the next generation of > visually impaired students? > > Inclusive Education programme is in effect for some years. We should review > the situation now. As a project it sounds very good. Disabled children read > at normal schools and ideally it helps mainstreaming them into the society. > > A cursory glance at a classroom will reveal the real situation. In West > Bengal, where I live in, the normal student-teacher ratio is about 1-100 in > many cases. It is even worse at the primary schools. Moreover, the primary > school teachers have to perform various duties during census and election. > Besides, they have their daily chore of midday meal. Many of these schools > do not have the necessary infrastructure for children with special needs. > Accessible toilets are dreams when the normal children do not get these > facilities in some cases. > > There are Special Educators who are supposed to assist the children with > special needs. A Special Educator has to cover about 30 schools in a month. > Is it possible for him or her to guide a disabled child by meeting him once > in a month? We cannot expect him that he will be efficient in Braille, sign > language and so on. They are paid very low (hardly Rs. 8,000 per month) and > appointed on a contract basis. They tend to quit their jobs whenever there > is an opportunity. Why should well-educated young people stick to such a job > for so humble a salary? > > I shall not say that nothing good has come of it. Many disabled children > have been enrolled into normal schools or Sarba Shiksha Abhijan. In normal > schools there is no pass or fail. So visually challenged children get > automatic promotion up to class VIII without ever learning Braille. I have > heard of a mentally retarded child who goes to the exam and his invigilator > writes his name, roll etc. on his answer paper and he gets promoted. > > There is yet another benefit. Parents of the disabled children gain > financially from the scheme, around Rs. 4,500. The Special Educators earn > their living, whatever it is, from this scheme. But this is all at the cost > of education. When children with special needs require special training, we > are thrusting them into an atmosphere where they feel lonely and isolated. > They memorise some rhymes and stories, but they seldom learn arithmetic. As > a result they grow up with an inferiority complex. > > A severe consequence of the scheme is that since the parents earn something > from this scheme, they do not send their children to special schools. Most > of the special schools cannot enrol their full strength. > > I do not want to give up with Inclusive Education immediately. But we can do > the following to make it more effective: > 1. There should be some financial incentive for the parents who send their > children to special schools > 2. The block-level social welfare officer should try to find a special > school for a child with special needs and when no such facility is > available, only then the child should be enrolled in Inclusive Education. > 3. Special Educators should be paid in line with the regular teachers with > all facilities. > 4. Braille books, Braille writing frames, Taylor frames and other similar > items used by children with special needs should be available at the block > level. > > I shall request all senior members to do something about it. We should write > to the ministers of Social Justice and Empowerment, Education and to the PM > also. Activists like Mr. Kaul, Mr. Rumta or Dipendra should take initiative > with our full support for any action. > > With best Regards, > Amiyo Biswas > Cell: +91-9433464329 > Clean India Campaign: Let us also chip in! > > > > 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. 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AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails > sent through this mailing list.. > Clean India Campaign: Let us also chip in! 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..
