CHALLENGE’S OF ERADICATING DARKNESS

By RACHITA Kauldhar

There is finally a silver lining for more than 3000 government schools in the capital run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) as the Delhi High Court has asked the government to appoint special educators to teach and help disabled children.

Cases of mentally challenged persons are increasing in India. There are around 70 million disabled people in India. Of them, 1.7 million are autistic, three million are afflicted by cerebral palsy, ten million are victims of mental disability, and 10.5 million have speech, hearing and visual impairments. Others are affected by leprosy-cured, loco motor disability and are physically challenged.

Disability among children’s is coming into public focus after films like Taare Zameen Par and Black. Currently, there is also a television show on Zee TV called Aapki Antara showed the plight of these children’s. Till now, this section of society has got the cold shoulder from both the government and society.

The High Court directive may sound good, but there are serious limitations. There is only one educational institution in the capital which provides B.Ed in Special Education for the Mentally Retarded. It produces only 27 graduates every year. How are they going to cater to the needs of 3000 schools which needs a minimum of two teachers per school?

Pinky Jain, a B.Ed student at Lady Irwin college says: “In this profession there are both factors- a well paid settled job with satisfaction and peace of doing something worthwhile for society.”

Saswati Singh, President, Inspiration, an NGO for autistic, mentally challenged and slow learners says: “One has to leave flowery ideas of money-making in this profession and should only think of how to develop these children and work for the betterment of society. There is no reservation in government schools for mentally disabled students; they have been isolated from the education system. Directing government to appoint special educators will be of no help if the required aids for teaching with the qualified teachers will not be provided”.

Tanpreet Kaur, a B.Ed student at LIC says: “The government should make it compulsory for private schools to admit disabled children as students and should also have special educators.

There are some private schools in Delhi too who have a special class for disabled students. One of them is J.D. Tytler School, R-block New Rajinder Nager. Its principle, Jeniffer Tytler, says: “Rigidity and pressure of schools in India can make it difficult for a disabled child to cope without special allowances. So we have a special class for these children wherein special educators are appointed to teach them with the required teaching aids.

Special education in India is still in its infancy stage. A career in special education is still unique and distinct. Thinking seriously and deeply about the issue is very important at this time as autism is nearly to become an epidemic. But with the High Court order, hopes have risen for special children to get a better deal out of life.

rachita.kauldhar@gmail.com