Showing posts with label CBSE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CBSE. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

CBSE finds many of its affiliated Schools not inclusive, lack special educators

Dear Colleagues,

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has pulled up its schools for not adhering to affiliation rules that make appointment of special educators to cater to differently-abled students compulsory.

Appointment of special educators was made mandatory in 2015 under rule 13(11) of the board’s affiliation by-laws to promote inclusion of students with disabilities/special needs in schools according to the provisions of the “Persons with Disabilities Act 1995” and in conformity with the National Policy of Education. 

Observing that many schools were not following the rule, Jaiprakash Chaturvedi, Deputy Secretary (Affiliation), said in a recent circular, “The management and the head of CBSE-affiliated schools are hereby directed to strictly follow the provisions and arrange to appoint special educators in schools.” He added that the schools will have to inform their managing committees about the provision for stricter compliance. 

But Mumbai schools have expressed that it was difficult to meet this condition. DAV School, New Panvel, has been advertising for a special educator for the last two years, but did not find any qualified professionals. “We have been trying to hire a special educator since 2015. This year, we advertised twice but still did not get anyone good,” said Jayashree Khandekar, principal of the school. 

Educators blamed it on the lack of courses available for special education. In Mumbai, only SNDT Women’s University, Churchgate and Juhu, offer a full course in special education, while few other private colleges offer short-term certificate courses. 

There are barely 300 special educators in the state for more than 16 lakh children with learning disabilities, said Dr Harish Shetty, a psychiatrist who suggested that instead of mandatory appointments, the board can train regular teachers on basic remedial education. “This way, the existing faculty can be used for remediation, while authorised centres can carry out the tests,” he said. He said the human resource development ministry needed to start more courses on special education. 

Some city schools are using counsellors in place of special educators or hiring them part-time. “We are unable to find full-time special educators, so our counsellor helps in remediation,” said Deepshika Srivastava. She added that although teachers have been sensitized in identifying students with learning disability, they could not pay individual attention to all because there were 40 to 50 students in each class.


Monday, May 9, 2016

RTI reveals Delhi's Schools not compliant to CBSE guidelines on disabled friendliness

This report filed by Mr. Manash Gohain in Times of India Delhi Edition and published on May 08 2016 titled "City schools tough place for disabled" based on over 160 RTI replies received by Ms. Abha Khetrapal of "Cross the Hurdles" reveals how equipped and serious Delhi is when it comes to providing quality education in an inclusive set up for children with disabilities. Here goes the story.

Most Delhi schools are not inclusive, and their differently-abled students are deprived of assistive devices or materials even though the Central Board of Secondary Education has issued guidelines on these. Replies to queries under the Right to Information received from the capital's government, government-aided and private schools reveal that most of the institutions have not carried out audits to establish the levels of the prescribed amenities.

Unfortunately , CBSE, having issued three guidelines over the years, too said in a reply to an RTI query that it had no information on access audits, compliance and action taken in case of non-compliance. The education board first issued guidelines on making school disabled-friendly way back in May 2005. It reissued fresh guidelines in October 2008 and then reiterated these in 2009, making it incumbent on schools to comply with measures suggested in the guidelines.

These included provision of support through accessible educational material and the availability of trained teachers, modification of the existing physical infrastructure and teaching methodologies to meet the needs of all children, including those with special needs, ensuring availability of study material for the disabled and talking text books, reading machines and computers with speech software and the induction of an adequate number of signlanguage interpreters, transcription services and a loop induction system for the hearing-impaired students.

TOI has copies of the 160 RTI replies received by petitioner Abha Khetarpal, President of Cross the Hurdles, an NGO that works with people with physical challenges.Only two of the schools claimed to have carried out the mandated access audit. In a majority of the schools, the queries about study materials, teacher training, infrastructure, access audit report and number of students with disabilities evinced "not applicable" as the response. Just five schools said they had visually-impaired students, and there was no data on students with disabilities like locomotor disability.

According Khetarpal, “The annexure in the 2009 guidelines clearly stated the things that schools were to provide in order to make them inclusive, failing which they would lose their affiliation. CBSE now replies that they do not keep a record of such information.“ The board told Khetarpal that affiliated schools only provide Open Text Based Assessment material in Braille, but this carries only 10% weightage in the final exams and is also meant only for Classes IX and XI. What about 90% of the study material, she asks.How would students with visual impairment cope?

Some private schools refused to divulge the information on the ground that they did not come under the purview of the RTI Act. So, there is no confirmed number on students with disabilities in regular inclusive schools and what they study . Khetarpal says that when asked this, CBSE said it not only didn't have the data, but that it also doesn't monitor compliance of its guidelines.



Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Special Educator must in all Schools affiliated to CBSE

CBSE makes special educators must in all schools
Abhishek Choudhari | Jul 8, 2015, 03.28 AM IST

Nagpur: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has now made it mandatory for all affiliated schools to appoint a special educator so that children with learning disabilities could be assimilated with other students. Apart from the central board's philosophy of "inclusive practices" in schools, this directive has also been necessitated due to strict guidelines of the Right to Education Act (RTE).

DTS Rao, board's joint secretary, wrote in the letter to schools containing above directions, "Board will appreciate cooperation of the schools in implementation of the above."

Laying down broad guidelines, CBSE said a special educator was specifically required in schools to work with children and young adults who required additional support in order to complete their learning successfully. Rao wrote, "Special educators (SE) will focus on children with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, developmental disabilities such as autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and specific learning disabilities as they are emotionally vulnerable and have behavioral difficulties". The scope of work has been widened for SEs as CBSE says they could also work with "gifted and talented children".

But finding qualified SEs is a big challenge for schools. Annapoorni Shastri, senior principal of Bhavan's BP Vidya Mandir (Shrikrishna Nagar), said, "In Nagpur it is difficult to get SEs with proper qualifications. Part of the problem is that in teacher training colleges, special education course is focused on kids with hearing and speaking disability rather than autism etc."

Schools where such children are enrolled said teaching approach has to be tailor-made. Shastri said, "For an autistic child there has to be one-on-one teaching and they cannot be burdened with all subjects at once, hence the open schooling system is for them. For others, CBSE does offer choices of subjects like music, e-typing etc which are relatively easy to handle."

Apart from subject choices, the other aspect that makes inclusive education possible is the students' support system on campus. Sumathi Venugopalan, principal of Centre Point School (Wardhaman Nagar), said, "Every student moves up from our pre-primary section school, Mothers Pet, so they all are anyway close to each other. It is only at a later age that learning disabilities become apparent and we all adapt accordingly. We have a 'buddy system' in which a student volunteers to help another and builds a great ecosystem. Some of our students have cerebral palsy and autism but they are doing well with help of SEs, counselors and their classmates."

Not every school has students with special needs, something that maybe incidental or deliberate. With CBSE making it mandatory for every school to have a SE, one might expect to more such admissions taking place.


Special children, no special educators?

PROBLEMS FACED BY SCHOOLS WHEN HIRING

* Finding qualified special educators in Nagpur is a challenge

* Schools say 'teacher colleges' focus only on teaching physically challenged kids

* Theory and practical skills required for kids with learning disabilities are lacking in teachers

* Considering that children with special needs form a very small percentage of total strength, dedicating enough manpower is financially tough


EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED

Pre School/ nursery play school

* Std X passed and certificate program in early childhood and special education.

* Std XII passed and diploma program in early childhood special Education DECSE-MR DECSE-VI.

* Std XII passed and diploma in teaching children (Deaf and hard of Hearing)

* Std X passed and diploma certificate care giving program.

* Any other equivalent qualification approved by Rehabilitation Council of India.

Elementary (primary and upper primary)

* Std XII passed and two year DEd Special education in any of the category of disability

* Std XII passed and one year diploma in special education (DSE) in any of the category disability

* Diploma in community based rehabilitation (DCRB) with six months certificate course in education of children with special needs.

* Post graduate diploma in community based rehabilitation with six months certificate course in education of children with special needs.

* Diploma in Multi rehabilitation worker with six months certificate course in education of children with special needs

* Junior diploma in teaching the deaf

* Primary level teacher teaching course in visual impairment

* Diploma in vocational rehabilitation mental retardation (DVR-MR)/ diploma in vocational training and employment mental retardation (DVTE-MR) with six months certificate course in education of children with special needs

* Diploma in hearing language and speech with six months certificate course in education of children with special needs

* Std XII passed with RCI recognized qualification for minimum one year duration and six months with special needs.

* Any other equivalent qualification approved by RCI

Secondary and senior Secondary 

* Graduate with B.Ed. (special education).

* BEd general with one year diploma in special education

* BEd general with two-year diploma in special education

* BEd general with post graduate professional diploma in special education

* BEd special education and post graduate professional certificate in special education

* PG diploma in special education (mental retardation)

* PG diploma in special education (multiple disabilities: physical and neurological)

* PG diploma in special education (locornotor impairment and cerebral palsy)

* Secondary level teacher training course in visual impairment

* Senior diploma in teaching the deaf

* BA/BEd in visual impairment

* Any other equivalent qualification approved by RCI

Source: Times of India 

Monday, August 17, 2009

Relief by CBSE to All Chidren who come under Definition of Disabled of PWDA- an enabling or disabling provision?

Dear Friends,

The CBSE announced a few months back certain amendments in the bye-laws thereby bringing more relief to the students with disabilities. In comparison to earlier provisions on scribes/extra time & relaxations in subjects, compulsory three languages and 75% compulsory attendance to be eligible for appearing in CBSE Board exams, we have new relaxed provisions now.

While the attendence requirements have been reduced to 60% and provisions of scribes and extra-time of 20 minutes per hour of exam etc have been allowed to all those who come under the definition of "a person with disability" within the ambit of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act- 1995, (in short PWDA) i.e. those with 40% and above disability. This was earlier allowed only to those with Spasticity, Blindness, and Dyslexia & those with physical disability restricting in writing and use of hands. Exemptions from third language was allowed to those with hearing impairments too!

The biggest beneficiaries will be those who did not come under any of the earlier categories allowed exemptions but this benefit would now be even available to those with physical disabilities who actually have no organ limitation in writing the examination and can write as fast as any other non-disabled child could write.

While this can be seen as a new trend to support those who are experiencing disabilities of some or the other kind and to a certain degree as required under PWDA, and to compensate for the lack of equal opportunities for them in the past. But at the same time, it might tilt the balance of convenience in the favour of those who actually don't require it at all. Also, allowing scribes/writer to those who can write for themselves will open up another pandora's box!

I feel a rethinking is necessary when it come to allowing writer /amanuensis to all the disabled children!

On the other hand we see is a cut-throat competition to achieve higher percentages; for you loose out on getting admission to your preferred college or to get selected in MAT/CAT etc merely because of a fraction of percentage in marks. Thus, those who are in genuine need of the facilities of scribes and extra time would actually be at loss in the present system of a mad fight for percentages. Tommorrow these candidates have to sit in competitive examinations like CAT/MAT etc where no extra time is given to all, as of today.

Therefore, unless the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, does something seriously about the percentages etc. and number of seats in the higher education, it would only allow these students to get stuck after the CBSE's exams to reach no where!

In fact I would suggest that giving extra time to students has its own advantages. The child will write only that much which he knows or has studied. By this logic, extra time can be given to any one who needs it! It reduced stress; Child performs to his best; Slow writers can even complete the exam to their satisfaction; those with impairments in writing or those using writers/scribes will also get sufficient time to complete. But then it should also be extended in other exams too which a child has to compete immediately after CBSE Exams in order to plan for his career! Otherwise, it might be considered as a stick that further disables rather than enabling!

Regards

SC Vashishth,Advocate-Disability Rights

Click here to Read the New Notification of CBSE

Click here to read the following news from source: CBSE Amends Exam Rules for Disabled Candidates

The Central Board of Secondary Education has announced certain amendments in the examination bylaws. Candidates with disabilities, as defined in the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, have been exempted from the examination of a third language.


The previous rule (Rule 23) covered only candidates who were blind, dyslexic or had a speech or hearing disability.

According to the new amendment, candidates covered under the Act appearing for the Secondary School Examination or Senior School Certificate Examination are permitted to use an amanuensis (writer) and will be allowed additional time.

For a three-hour paper, students will be given an extra time of 60 minutes and for an examination of two hours, the duration will be increased by 40 minutes.

Both the amendments cover autistic students as well. These candidates also have the option of studying one compulsory language as against two. “The chosen language should be in consonance with the overall spirit of the ‘Three Language Formula’ prescribed by the Board,” reads the amendment.

Earlier, a candidate (other than blind, physically challenged or spastic) had to pay the fee prescribed for the use of an amanuensis. But, according to the changed rule, the services of an amanuensis will be provided free of cost.

A new rule added to the bylaws also defines a ‘regular course of study’. A regular course of study means that students participating in sports at the national level (organised by recognised federations), shall have to maintain at least 60 per cent attendance. Candidates taking up subjects involving practicals will be required to devote at least 60 per cent of their total attendance to practical work in the laboratory.

Unless a student fulfils the requirements, he/she will not be eligible to sit for the examination. Heads of institutions have also been instructed to not allow a candidate with subjects involving practicals to take the examinations unless the attendance requirements are met as per the rules.