Showing posts with label Inclusive Schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inclusive Schools. Show all posts

Thursday, September 22, 2016

Structural Changes in Govt. Schools with NGOs on Board to ensure disabled children actually learn

Dear colleagues,

Please refer to my earlier post titled 'Delhi Govt. focuses on students with disabilities in Govt. Schools- thanks to Working Groups with NGOs'. Here is an updated report on the project by Shreya Roy Chowdhury of TNN, wherein the 6 working groups have moved ahead on many areas and the Delhi Govt. is hoping that through these interventions, the children with disabilities enrolled in govt. schools will actually learn:


Shreya Roy Chowdhury | TNN | Updated: Sep 22, 2016, 12.04 AM IST

New Delhi: Through a number of interventions, Delhi government is hoping to ensure that disabled children in its schools actually learn. Taking disability-sector NGOs on board, the Directorate of Education has established six working groups to address different aspects of education for such kids—teacher training, aids and resources, even "structural changes" in the administration. "Disability mapping" is on the cards and on September 15, the government issued a list of 14 schools in different school districts where accessible "resource centres" will be built.

There are about 20,000 'children with special needs' or CWSN in Delhi government schools. The Right to Education Act's insistence on inclusivity and accessibility has increased enrollment but activists argue the system is not up to scratch. Now, even the government agrees. The minutes of a June 2016 meeting organised by the government with NGOs says, "The issue of mismatch of expertise of Special Education Teachers (SETs) and needs of CWSN was raised. Disability mapping of CWSN should be the first step." The meeting was attended by directorate officials and representatives of many organisations.

"The special educators are single-disability trained. We have offered to train in cross-disability and inclusive education so that they can help children and teachers," says G Syamala of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion.

The DoE's meeting minutes explain that each working group will include two NGOs (or institutes) and one department official. One will work exclusively on learning disabilities — help identify children who have them, "finalize...tools for assessment of learning disabilities", "provide lucid instructions for...teachers", "prepare training module for assessment of these children."

Another will develop teaching aids. There'll be a central resource library in every zone — 29 libraries distributed over 13 school districts. These will serve as repositories of resources for special educators, teachers, parents and the kids themselves. The All India Confederation of the Blind has offered to work with the Delhi Bureau of Text Books to producing Braille and large-print texts.

Members also agreed on developing "zonal resource centres" — essentially one school in a zone capable of extra support — for children "with severe disability." This, however, doesn't mean more 'special' schools — fundamentally contrary to the idea of inclusion. "Recipient[s] of these services (CWSN) will study in their schools" and the centres will offer "specialized services". Major changes to the administration are also being considered including creation of special posts to implement programmes and monitor.

The AICB president AK Mittal has sent the DoE a list of other suggestions including "orientation and mobility" training for the visually challenged, "expanded core curriculum activities" for disabled children and "school-mapping for the placement of special educators."


Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Delhi Govt. focuses on students with disabilites in Govt. Schools- thanks to Working Groups with NGOs.

Dear Colleagues,

Delhi Govt's decision to form working groups in association with NGOs has resulted in some renewed focus on the learning outcomes of students with disabilities studying in various govt and aided schools in Delhi. I call it a step in right direction by the Kejriwal Govt. which has been experimenting several programs to ensure that students with disabilities were truly included in schools. Its Department of Education (DoE) had formed 7 working groups in association with leading NGOs working on inclusive education to address the issue of quality education for all in Govt. Schools. 

This constructive & participatory process assures all of us that things are going in right direction despite initial hiccups and several challenges. The special educators have been asked to prepare IEP (Individualized Education Program) for each child with disability with short term and long term goals to be reviewed periodically. The teachers are also given flexibility to review & modify the module. The support of multi-disciplinary team like therapists, counselors,  educators etc is also being proposed to be made available.

The challenges that still remain is many schools do not have required number of special educators. Class Teachers also need to be trained and involved in the child's learning and the responsibility shouldn't be just shifted to the special educators completely. This would not result in true inclusion.  Parents also have a larger role in child's development & should be involved in supplementing IEP at home. But this is also a challenge as many of them are working and do not have time to support children's education.

However, I am sure the working groups with the support of expert NGOs would take this challenge further and take this program of inclusion to a gradual success. I would be very keenly following this experiment on inclusive & quality education with measurable learning outcomes of children with disabilities (children with special needs)  in Govt. schools. This experiment deserves accolades and is worth emulating in rest of Indian states given its participatory approach with a focus on inclusion!

Here is the Tribune Report on the same.

Special education programme for the disabled in govt schools

Every disabled child studying in Delhi Government run and aided schools will now get personal attention with the AAP government asking special educators to prepare an individualised education programme (IEP).

"Special educators placed in government run and aided schools have been asked to prepare an individualised education programme for every disabled child in their care. The IEP will include instructions on the teaching procedure as well," a senior official of the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

There are around disabled 20,000 children enrolled in government schools at present.

"We have asked the special education teachers to prepare the IEP of each child with special needs (CWSN) within 15 days, the format of which should cover everything from basic requirements to extra-curricular activities.

"Teachers will have the liberty to modify any particular child's module as per requirements. The educators will not only record the type of special need but also associated conditions, languages spoken and referral to other services -in case the child needs services such as physiotherapy," the official said.

After identifying the problems, the educators will set both short-term and long-term goals for each child.

DoE officials had recently formed seven working groups in association with various NGOs working for children with special needs.

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.



Thursday, October 31, 2013

An inclusive school in Mumbai

All schools can be special

Nergish Sunavala, TNN Oct 20, 2013, 05.35AM IST

While interviewing Usha and Rupesh Bhurke at their Goregaon home, I assumed that their seven-year-old son wasn't paying attention. After all Dev, diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at age two, was spinning merrily around the room, playing with Lego, and urging his parents to switch on the TV. But the moment Rupesh mentioned the name Advait, Dev froze mid-spin and announced, "Advait was absent on Monday."

Both boys study at Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya, a mainstream school in Malad, Mumbai, and have known each other since junior kindergarten. Early on Advait, who has no special needs, was asked to monitor Dev's class work - a task he took so seriously that Dev was in danger of becoming helpless without him. Now, Advait waits for a go-ahead from the teacher before swooping in to help.

Besides bonding with Advait - a feat considering Dev's speech was delayed - there has also been a marked improvement in his vocabulary, sitting tolerance and a sharp decline in his hyperactivity. Dev's situation is remarkable but not unique. Parents, teachers and special educators have long realized that children, when sensitized from a young age, accept differently abled classmates - incorporating wheelchairs and even prosthetic limbs into their games. As for academics, tweaking the curriculum slightly - or in severe cases creating an individualized education plan - allows these children to flourish in a regular school.

Analyzing what works has taken on a new urgency in light of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which makes it mandatory for schools to admit children with disabilities under the 25% quota for "disadvantaged groups". A 2012 amendment expanded the definition of disability to include autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities. Though the RTE Act came into effect in 2010, activist Ashok Agarwal from Delhi describes the implementation as "tardy" and "uneven". He regularly fields calls from frantic parents whose differently-abled children are being denied admission or ousted from government or private schools. (In 2012, the parents of an autistic boy took a Mumbai school to court because they asked that he be shifted to a special school. The case is still on.)

It's easy to understand why many schools - already flailing under the pressure of overcrowded classrooms, rigid curricula and a shortage of staff - are reluctant to take on children with special needs but that only makes the ones that have successfully embraced inclusion all the more remarkable. In Dev's case, for the first six months, he kept wandering around class but his teacher - despite having 40 other students - took it in her stride. "She never shouted at him," says Usha. Similarly, Jaya Palaparti's son Siddhanth, who has Asperger Syndrome, reached class 10 because his teachers at Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya in Borivali focused on his strengths (reading and mental math) and accommodated his hyper-sensitivity. He was allowed to wear sandals because socks exacerbated his sensory issues, and he wrote in print even after the rest of the class switched to cursive (kids with autism struggle with fine motor skills). Siddhanth scored 79% in his SSC boards with concessions like using a calculator and dropping a third language and is now completing class 12 through open schooling. "Siddhanth's success encouraged the school to admit more kids with autism," says Jaya.

Anecdotal evidence shows that it's not just high-functioning kids who can thrive in a regular school. Harsh Shardul, a nonverbal child in a wheelchair, who has cerebral palsy, attends an inclusive pre-primary school in Aurangabad. His mother's initial fears that he might feel ignored were soon allayed. "Once the other children got used to him, they started inventing games, they could play with Harsh like racing against his wheelchair," said his mother.

Such stories are the norm rather than the exception at Beacon High in Khar. For the last 13 years, the school, which has special educators, counselors, a physiotherapist, speech therapist and a psychiatrist on its rolls, has been admitting children with disabilities. "I'm blessed that I have never had a child feeling rebuffed, humiliated or left out," says principal KS Jamali, who has found that the "buddy system" - similar to the relationship Dev and Advait share -works marvelously even in senior classes.

If mainstreaming is implemented halfheartedly, a child can feel excluded. A mother of two autistic girls was forced to withdraw her elder daughter from a Mumbai school ten years ago. "She would laugh and talk to herself in class so the teacher wasn't keen to keep her," says the mother. Her younger daughter is now floundering in the secondary section of an IGCSE school. Small concessions like photocopied notes, regular breaks and fewer assignments would help but the school isn't always receptive to suggestions.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Status of Education- 62 Special Educators for 18,000 children with disabilities in Delhi


Shikha Sharma : New Delhi, Thu Sep 05 2013, 

It has been four months since she went to school. Every time the 11-year-old turns up at her municipal school in Nehru Park, the principal sends her back, saying the school doesn't have special educators to teach her. The 11-year-old is a challenged child.
But she isn't the only one forced to stay at home because of a lack of specialist teachers. Her's is the story of more than 18,000 differently abled children studying in the city's many government and municipal schools, who, in the absence of special education teachers, are either not allowed to enter the schools or refused admission.

A report submitted by the Education department in the Delhi Assembly identified 18,000 such kids in 2009. The number of teachers qualified to teach these students, though, stands at only 62.

Around 250 teachers hired on contract under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) were teaching in the city's many schools until May. But their contracts were not renewed once they expired. "So barring the 62 teachers engaged by the government recently, there are no teachers in both MCD and government schools now," said S C Bimal, component coordinator (special education), SSA.

In September 2009, the High Court, noting the serious paucity of special educators, directed the government and local bodies to ensure each school had at least two special educators within six months.

Following the order, the Delhi government created 927 permanent teacher posts in Directorate of Education (DoE) schools and 1,610 in MCD schools through the Delhi Subordinate State Services Board (DSSSB). But little seems to have come of it.

"For the 927 posts, 450 teachers were called for counselling and we are expecting some to join soon. With 62 guest teachers already working, the situation will improve as the second round of recruiting guest teachers and fresh recruitment of contract teachers is underway," said Amit Singla, Director, DoE.

"We have created 695 posts for special educators. As soon as the DSSSB recruits for these posts, we will fill them up," said Mukesh Yadav, PRO, South Delhi Municipal Corporation. Only nine out of 8,789 teachers shortlisted by DSSSB, though, have qualified for the job.

The quality of education, also, stands to question. "Where the Rehabilitation Council of India prescribes one teacher for every eight differently abled children, most teachers appointed on contract are given 20 schools to handle. Principals in most MCD schools refuse to admit children with disabilities. In some cases, we see a child only once a month. We may call them children with special needs but the truth is, they are the most ignored," said Ramgopal, a special educator working on contract.


Friday, November 16, 2012

Present education system is inaccessible to deaf

Our entire education system, even the special schools /infrastructure created for the hearing impaired (barring few exceptions) is unwelcoming and inaccessible to the deaf children. Need of interpreters at public places is one demand from the sector to make the environment accessible for the hearing and speech impaired. However, the effort of mainstreaming or of providing interpreters will not bring the desired result if the root cause is not targeted. 

The education system in the Government Schools for the Deaf is unscientific and results in only 2-3% pass percentage at matriculation level in a state like Delhi. I personally know this since I have seen several deaf young adults re-attempting the matriculation exam time and again to get those 33% but with rot learning and remembering the paragraph visually will not lead to formation of correct sentences. Majority of deaf children who have passed 10th from the Government deaf schools can not write a full paragraph of their own which is grammatically correct - in any language - be it Hindi or English. Is this what we are aspiring for?

The whole education system for the deaf needs an overhaul with sign language also getting its due place in the  overall education system. The teachers and supporting staff do not know sign language. So much so, the deaf person remain alienated in their own families since there is hardly any effort or facility to train the family members in sign language.  A deaf person always prefers to marry another deaf person indicates the level of their alienation from the mainstream society. 

Unless we did something to remove this alienation due to lack of communication with the deaf children / persons in various walks of life - be it education, employment or social inclusion, the deaf will continue to suffer and government will continue to help them become handicapped and excluded.

The report below from UP reveals the ground realities being faced by people.



TNN | Nov 14, 2012, 01.28 AM IST

LUCKNOW: As a child Vijendra, 28-year-old always wanted to be a gazetted officer. Though deaf and mute, he overcame disability with his sheer willpower and hard work, and cleared the examinations with good grades. However, the pathetic state of affairs in the two government schools meant for hearing-impaired children (in Agra and Gorakhpur till class 10thh forced Vijendra to take admission in a regular school in class ninth, which neither had trained teachers nor facilities needed to meet the special needs of the children like him. As a result, he failed twice to clear class 10th examination, lost his confidence and saw his dreams virtually crashing. Vijendra had no other option, but to leave studies and take up job for the sake of his family. Today, Vijendra works as a helper in an outlet of a retail giant. His job is to bring back the trolley left by people at parking and for this he gets Rs 3,500 per month.

"There are many like me, who want to do something big in life but cannot because there are no schools for us," said Vijendra while narrating the difficulties he underwent in a regular school. Similar is the case of Sanjay Singh, who is working at an outlet of a retail giant.

As per official estimates, there are around three million deaf children in India and around 25,000 such children take birth every year. According to disabled welfare department, the population of deaf and mute people in the state is about eight lakh including around 4,80,000 deaf children. In the absence of a special school, around 50% students with hearing impairment drop out after basic education in India every year. The situation in UP is said to be worse. According to a study conducted by Kaushalendra Kumar, a teacher at NC Chaturvedi School for Deaf, the drop out rate of deaf and mute students after class eighth in UP is 95%. "For deaf children, normal school is like a river in which they get drowned, as they do not know how to cross it," said Kumar.

Even if a deaf and mute student is able to clear the school level, there are no facilities for them in the higher education. Take the example of Faizal (22) who managed to clear class 10th and 12th from a normal school, but found that there is no college with facilities for hearing impaired in higher education. There is a university for disabled - UP Viklang Uddhar Dr Shakuntala Mishra Rehabilitation University, but it does not have facilities for hearing impaired. Faizal took admission in BA, but found that the teachers at the university teach orally and do not use the sign language for hearing impaired or an interpreter. "As I am deaf by birth, I cannot speak and hence there is no communication between me and the teacher," said a visibly angry Faizal whose repeated request to provide an interpreter fell on the deaf ears of the university authorities.

Not only education, there are no facilities for the hearing impaired as far as sports is concerned. Raj Kumar (23) left school after class eighth. But he is a good cricket player and was selected as an all-rounder North Zone in 2010. But after that, as there was no coaching or resources available for him, he did not qualify for any other cricket match. Now he is searching for job for livelihood. Earlier, the youth and sports department of the state used to give a grant of Rs two lakh per annum for sports activities of deaf children. However, the grant was discontinued in 2004 on grounds that it has funds only to support 'normal' sportspersons. When the deaf sportsperson went to the disabled welfare department with the request, they were sent back to sports department. They are running from pillar to post since then.

Significantly, there are number of hearing impaired sportsperson in UP who have done well at the national and international level. Asif Ayubi has won several medals at the state and national levels in 10,000 metre race and stood fourth in Melbourne Deaflympics in 2005. Vikram Singh, brought laurels to the country by winning a bronze medal in the 3rd Asia Pacific International Badminton championship. However, their career in sports was cut short after the sports department stopped the grant. "Many think that the sports and extra-curricular activities for the disabled are useless, but the fact is that it helps in breaking the communication barriers and improves self-confidence. Many deaf children have excelled in life after improvement in their communication abilities," said Rajeev Kumar Sharma, general secretary, Uttar Pradesh Sports Council for Deaf.

Sharma is himself a deaf person and is an example for others to follow. Hailing from a poor family, Sharma's parents did not spend on his education. But they educated his younger brother who was not disabled. To support his studies, Sharma sold water, watches and toys at Kaiserbagh bus stand for many years. In the morning, he used to go to school and also used to take typing classes, while in the noon and evening, he used to sell such items. He passed class eighth from NC Chaturvedi School For Deaf and class 10{+t}{+h} from a regular school in the year 1988. He got the job of typist in the Army in 1992. At presently, he is the office superintendent.

While talking to TOI, principal secretary, handicap welfare department, VN Garg said that there is need to add more schools for deaf children because two schools till class 10{+t}{+h} in the state are not enough for a large number of students. "But we face problem of shortage of funds and trained teachers. The average per capita expenses incurred on a disabled child's education is three times higher than a normal child. Apart from infrastructure, we need to provide all kind of incentives to disabled students," said Garg.

Commenting on the need of an interpreter for students with hearing disabilities, registrar, UP Viklang Uddhar Dr Shakuntala Mishra Rehabilitation University, SK Srivastava said, "We are aware about the problem and we will appoint the interpreters when we will find them, as there is scarcity of such teachers in the market." He added that the students are not facing difficulties in the studies, as they can understand what is written on blackboard or projector. All of them have passed class XII without the help of an interpreter.

Monday, April 23, 2012

MCD will create 1790 posts of Special Educator under Right to Education Act


PTIMar 19, 2011, 

NEW DELHI: In keeping with the provisions of the Right to Education Act, the MCD has decided to create 1,790 posts of special teachers for children with disabilities in schools run and aided by the civic agency.
A meeting of the MCD Standing Committee approved a proposal in this regard this week.
The creation of the posts is also in consonance with a Delhi high court order of 2008 that said at least two such teachers should be provided in each school along with necessary teaching aids and reading material.
Officials said the Education Department has, however, proposed to create one post of "special educator" in each primary school. It is in process to place a request to the High Court for consideration, they said.
"The proposal for creation of 1,790 posts of special educators -- one each for schools run and aided by the MCD -- was prepared in compliance with the direction of the court and the provisions of RTE," an official said.
The total financial implication of the project will be Rs 53.70 crore per annum and it is expected to be met put of Plan funds to be provided by Delhi government. "There is a provision of financing such expenditure under RTE. According to it, 65 per cent of the expenditure will be borne by the Union government and the remaining by the state," he said.
The Right to Education Act provides that a child suffering from disability shall have the right to pursue free and compulsory elementary education.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Right to Education Act and Children with Disabilities

Dear Friends,

Now the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India has indicated that what best they can do to include Children with Disabilities in the RTE Act  2009 is by including them under the Definition of "Disadvantaged Children". And that is their bit.

Any thing further is not their cup of tea and Ministry of Social Justice should do something to amend the Persons with disabilities Act. There can not be any thing worse than this. The fact is that the children with disabilities are no one's babies when it comes to inclusion and equal rights.

Isn't it simple that Ministry of HRD being the nodal ministry for Education  should also deal with education of children with disability? I fail to understand as to how education of children with disabilities becomes a welfare issue? This needs to stop right now and the RTE bill needs to be amended conclusively to provide for all support, special educators, therapists,  reasonable accommodation and inclusive schools based on universal design. Nothing less than that is going to be acceptable to us!

There is good news that Delhi Government is changing the Recruitment Rules of the Teachers to include Recruitment Rules for Special Educators and related matters after the recent Delhi High Court judgement in Social Jurists PIL. However, the situation in other states is pathetic and grave.

The Education for All "सर्व शिक्षा अभियान" has actually failed to cater to the needs of children with disabilities in an inclusive set up. It is impossible to include children in the mainstream without proper preparation of teachers, infrastructure and support systems. Also only appointment of two Special Educators per school in the National Capital Territory Region will not serve the larger needs and the states have to take proactive measures to address the issue. Till today, there is no talk of developmental therapists, speech therapists, mobility trainers and other rehabilitation professional being included as a part of mainstream schools which are otherwise a necessary part of Special schools run by NGOs.

The First Country Report on action taken by Indian Government on UNCRPD is due in May 2010. The Union Government has sought reports from States as what actions they have taken in these areas and I received a frantic call from one leading State NGO from one of the states asking that the State Welfare department is asking about UNCRPD and what is that Government is required to do in light of this. I was taken aback but this is sadly the truth! Many departments in state governments are not even aware or have taken no pains to even open the convention document that Union Government might have sent to them.

In such situation, there is an urgent and calling need for the NGOs and the DPOs to act as monitors and get the systems working. On its own, nothing would happen and we need to show the road to the implementing agencies and the Governments. Its our cause and we can't wait for it to happen on its own, at the whims and fancies of State. The Persons with Disabilities Act is a live testimony to this which has not been fully implemented even after nearly one and a half decade of its being passed by the Parliament of India.

I see a new role for the NGOs - that of  "Facilitators of Change" and "Advocacy Organisations" and "Resource Centres" to guide the Government rather than merely restricting themselves to the role of a Service Provider.

Its when you get engaged in Providing Service, you have no time or energy left to act as Resource Centre or advocacy organisation and also you keep chasing the grant applications to the Government to run the schools and other services. And that is what precisely the Government want you to remain engaged in!

We have to understand that education of children with disability is a fundamental right of the children which the Government is bound to provide for in terms of  systems, infrastructure and finance. Thus there is no point in NGOs seeking grants which are often very subjective and do not cover even the 50% of the expenses if rightfully done. I had taken up few cases for NGOs where the workers of the NGOs went against their employers in the Labour Courts seeking minimum wages and what I learnt from NGOs was that the grant that comes for a helper is merely 2000 Rupees which is far less than the minimum wage of an unskilled worker in Delhi. The matters are pending in High Court where Grant making Ministries have been impleaded as necessary parties for proper adjudication of the case! And I am well aware what is going to be the outcome of such petition!

Therefore it is the right time for NGOs to redcue their role as Service Provider and gradually move towards their new and calling role as Resource Centres, Research bodies and be a part of Advocacy and Monitoring mechanism to ensure that the rights of persons with disability to live with dignity in society on an equal basis with others are realised to its full and rights enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are progressively realised.

Another worrying issue that we should be concerned with too is the second amendment which HRD ministry is contemplating to bring in RTE Act to satisfy the powerful lobby of minority institutions who do not want to be governed by State Laws at the same time want to continue receiving grants/aids from the Government. These schools if exempted from constituting School Management Committees (which is a powerful tool to increase citizen's participation in the school management and check misuse of public funds) they could do what they like without any external check including refusal to take in children with disabilities. The move should be resisted by one and all to ensure participation of civil society and stakeholders in the process of education and maintain transparency in the delivery of quality education to all including children with disabilities.
regards
Subhash Chandra Vashishth, Advocate-Disability Rigths, subhashvashishth@gmail.com, 9811125521

To read the press coverage on RTE click here

RTE Act to cover kids with disabilities

NEW DELHI: Children with physical, learning and speech disabilities would now be put under the disadvantaged category in the Right to Education Act.

The Cabinet will soon take up HRD ministry's cabinet note seeking amendment in the RTE Act. Another amendment seeks to exempt schools run by minority organisations from setting up School Management Committees.

However, the amendment bill will be introduced only in the budget session of Parliament.

In the last session of Parliament, when the RTE Bill was passed, disabled rights groups had protested against non-inclusion of disabled children in the disadvantaged category. Disability will be further explained to include disabilities mentioned in the People with Disabilities Act and National Trust Act. But since PWD Act does not include cerebral palsy, autism and multiple disability, RTE amendment bill will specifically mention disabilities like dyslexia, aphasia and learning and speech disabilities.

Sources, however, said amending RTE to include disabilities is not enough. "Social justice ministry should move a comprehensive amendment bill to amend PWD Act. HRD ministry has done its bit," a source said.

The second amendment states that schools run by minority bodies will be exempted from setting up School Management Committees. The proposed amendment, sources said, will exclude schools managed by minority organisations from constituting School Management Committees. Right now, only unaided schools not receiving any kind of aid or grant from the government or local authorities are excluded from setting up school management committees (SMCs).

The amendment comes in the wake of demand from many states and minority-run institutions that they be exempted from setting up SMCs because it contravenes Article 30 of the Constitution that gives minorities right to establish and administer educational institutions. The amendment will be carried out in sub-clauses of clause (n) of Section 2 of the Act as well as in section 21 of the Act. It will specifically mention that minority-run institutions need not have SMCs. In the RTE Act, SMCs have a big role to play in the running of schools. Half the members of the committee will be women.