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.

Smart cities missing out on accessibility and inclusivity

“While the entire smart cities (project) is data- driven project, there is no data on accessibility. Since there is no data, there is very less likelihood of including it into the indicators," said, Subhash Chandra Vashishth

By: Express News Service | Ahmedabad | Updated: August 28, 2016 6:00 am

Leading experts from various sectors batted for the government to have more accessibility and inclusivity indicators in the Smart Cities Mission at the national conclave on Universal Design and Accessibility (UD &A) in Smart Cities, organised by the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conclave, Subhash Chandra Vashishth, lawyer and founder of CABE, said, “While the entire smart cities (project) is data- driven project, there is no data on accessibility. Since there is no data, there is very less likelihood of including it into the indicators. Accessibility is actually still not on the agenda of smart cities, that’s what we have seen in our experience. It’s on automation, on getting smart technology — but not planning the environment keeping the last link — the weakest and most vulnerable person in mind. Unless that happens, this is not sustainable and we may have to end up redoing it in the future. So far we have been looking at accessibility as a charity and talking in terms of percentages, but we have not been benchmarking it.” He added that accessibility reforms will be brought in with the NBC (National Building Code) 2016.

“The IT infrastructure currently employed in corporates and banks etc that is usable by mainstream needs to be usable by all, which is where the gap really lies. For example, if you use a software in a bank, its usability by a blind person is not taken into consideration. And what it leads to is that no blind person is then placeable in that bank. Secondly, there are certain key building blocks for IT infrastructure and accessibility. One of them is this text to speech technology and it doesn’t work for us in Indian languages despite India becoming an IT hub of the world. Lots of research is happening through labs, but different models need to be brought in,” said Dipendra Manocha, managing trustee, Saksham Trust.

“The entire framework for smart cities is looking at how to provide IT infrastructure that is smarter, but who are the people going to use it? Especially children, old people, women etc, and people with disabilities who are not that smart. People creating these smart cities should also look at what unsmart people we are planning for in terms of programme, plan, delivery accessibility and usage. The smart cities mission misses out on the accessibility and inclusivity bit as many people who are not IT savvy, economically backward,” said Anjlee Agarwal, executive director, Samarthyam.

Rachana Khare, head, School of Planning & Architecture, Bhopal, said, “In the smart cities mission, the government should specify the UD &A parameters in the mission document itself.”

Source: The Indian Express

Are meritorious candidates with disabilities adjusted against disability quota against the spirit of Section 33?

Dear Colleagues,

The govt. departments, who should be complying with the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (equal opportunities, protection of rights and full participation) Act 1995 have been flouting these very provisions under different garbs. This is not a new phenomenon. I remember in April 2005, I had challenged on behalf of All India Confederation of the Blind an advertisement of Govt. of NCT of Delhi and UPSC for filling up 90 posts of Principals without giving 3% reservation for persons with disabilities. In the counter filed by the Delhi Govt. it was suggested that they will adjust all persons with disabilities against reserved quota even if they cleared on their own merit. The Hon'ble Court presided by Justice S. Ravindra Bhat then had given a categorical judgement saying this could not be allowed and issued rule. The Delhi Govt. even went in appeal through LPA No.2042, 2043 and 2044/2005, however, on 21 Dec 2005 vide a common judgement, the double bench headed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice and Justice Madam B Lokur dismissed the said appeals upholding that Article 46 of the Constitution provides that the State shall promote the interests of weaker sections and weaker section would include not just SCs and STs but also persons with disabilities. The court had dismissed the LPAs with directions that a candidate with disabilities who has qualified in the selection and whose merit is so high that if he were a general category candidate he would still have been selected, then his appointment will not be made against the quota of persons with disabilities. Such a candidate would be treated as if in the general category and the reserved seats of the disabled category will be calculated excluding him or be filled up accordingly.

In fact, this fact has been repeatedly held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that concessions to help / enable a candidate appear in examinations cannot be termed as “reservation benefits“ if she/he qualifies on merit. [PGI Medical Education and Research V. K.L. Narasimham, (1997) 6 SCC 283]

The trend of subverting the laws against the marginalized section continues to be pushed by many employing departments rendering the minimum reservations as maximum reservations. As simple as age relaxations, fee relaxations, lower threshold of qualifying marks and additionally in case of disabled candidates - using a scribe or availing compensatory time during examination is being used as the basis to classify them as "reserved candidates". Using a scribe or compensatory time or fee/ age /qualifying marks relaxation can at best be considered as enabling provisions. These provisions can not be used to push them in to the "reservation quota" thereby defeating the original intent of such beneficial legislation.

The National Commission for SCs is examining this issue and has issued notice to UPSC, DoPT etc. on receipt of complaints from the stakeholders. The Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities have not taken any suo moto notice of several such cases happening right under their nose. This is an alarming situation where the statutory bodies are lagging behind in restoring justice to the most marginalized and to protect their rights and equal participation in the spirit of the law.