Challenged kids ‘out of edu system’, need early solution, HC told Times of India 02-10-2020
swati.deshpa...@timesgroup.com Mumbai: Bombay high court on Thursday orally asked a counsel for National Association of the Blind (NAB) to furnish a list of accessibility experts after his submission that “thousands of physically challenged children” are out of the education system during the pandemic time, while the government sought 6 to 8 months to make its e-platform more accessible to them. Uday Warunjikar, counsel for NAB, said there were experts who said it would take at best 8 weeks to make online education platforms friendly to the physically challenged. He opposed time being sought by the government and said many children would be excluded from mainstream if there’s a delay. The HC bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni said, “Where are these experts? If you give a list and satisfy us about their credentials, we will ask the government to take their help.” The bench adjourned two PILs on online education in the pandemic for physically and visually impaired pupils to October 6. One PIL is by NAB, the other is by NGO Anamprem that said students with disabilities were left out of the purview of state policy on online education. Meanwhile, in its affidavit on Thursday, the National Council of Educational Research & Training [NCERT] said that the NAB petition was “devoid of merits” and sought its dismissal. Its secretary, Major Harsh Kumar, said “digital platform managed by the council including DIKSHA, Epathshala strives to facilitate barrier-free access to most learners, including DIVYANGs and those disadvantaged due to geographic, infrastructure or socio-economic issues.” “The Epathshala Mobile App provides access to the NCERT textbooks in the form EPUBs, as this format is found to be maximum compatible with screen reading software and different sized devices.” It also has a “flipbook format” which is reader-friendly. -- 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.. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AccessIndia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to accessindia+unsubscr...@accessindia.org.in. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/accessindia.org.in/d/msgid/accessindia/CADetga8WSZbRm2q0ZLr0igd1bBu-qZv22Xau48-%3DZGLtARpJ7w%40mail.gmail.com.
