‘Govt not adhering to 3 pc reservation policy’
SHILLONG: Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) are known to be special, known to face their physical or mental deficiencies with courage to produce extraordinary works, but not without facing discrimination.
In Meghalaya, it is alleged that some government-run schools reject students as they fall under the PWD category and this poses complications before them in getting their fair access to quality education like other non-disabled people.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Khasi Disability Association (KDA) president, Starwin Kharjana, said the government has overlooked its failure to provide better education. “Till date the State government has not implemented the reservation policy for PWDs in government-run schools and this has resulted in utmost complications for them.”
“There was a time when a student was denied re-admission after he failed in class XII but after producing his disability certificate they admitted him again,” he said.
“The State government has announced it will implement the policy of fee exemption from the year 2017 to PWD candidates appearing for class X and class XII examinations,” he said.
He informed that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) deputes special teachers to teach Children With Special Needs (CWSN) at every block to conduct home-based studies to some them. “Many of the resource persons deputed by SSA are not performing their duties sincerely and efficiently,” he alleged.
Kharjana, however, lauded the efforts of the specialized teachers deputed at 12 Shnong, Laitkroh, East Khasi Hills, who he said has been dedicating themselves to the cause of educating PWDs, in stark contrast to other blocks.
A resident under Mawphlang block, he alleged that he has not come across special teachers taking care of the educational needs of the people with mental retardation (MR) at Mawphlang block.
To fill this gap of specialized teachers to teach MR and to respond to CWSN, the Inclusive Education Volunteers (IEV) steps in to assists the children.
Meanwhile, Meirilang Kharbyngar, State Coordinator, SSA-Meghalaya said, “The State SSA has IEV who teaches the children at home which will later enable the children to be enrolled at mainstream schools as the State government has promoted inclusive education by enrolling disabled children in general schools.”
“The SSA for inclusive education mandates to enroll both able and disable children at mainstream schools as it is their rights to get fair education and as per their disability we can mainstream some of them who are fit to be enrolled at mainstream schools,” she added.
She stated that mentally sound albeit physically unfit students will be provided aids which include hearing aids, wheel chair, crutches etc.
Kharbyngar added that there are children with severe to profound disability and to provide the children their rights to education, the resource person on Inclusive Education and IEV caters to these children at their respective homes.
Another drawback that proves an impediment in providing education to the CWSN is the dearth of trained teachers in the State, she said.
“There are a total of 68 IEV all over the State and 2 resource persons on IE (Inclusive Education) deputed at the block level, with the State having 39 blocks, it is difficult for the teachers to cover all the schools in just one block. In this case the IEV assist the resource persons by providing home based education to ensure coverage in the rural areas as well,” she added.
“They have been given multi category training to cater to students with autism, mental retardation, blindness etc,” she added.
In connection with the shortage of manpower, the people trained in special education are very less, Kharbyngar observed, adding that it is the duty of the State government to look into the matter.
Kharjana also said some children are provided with books by the SSA at their homes while no teacher comes to assist them.
As per the 2011 Census, Meghalaya has a total of 44,317 PWDs who are facing hardships in their quest for better education and employment, the KDA stated.
Speaking on the employment of PWDs, Kharjana said, “3 per cent reservation is mandatory for PWDs i.e, 1 per cent each for candidates with blindness or low vision, hearing impaired and locomotion disability or cerebral palsy but the MPSC follows the 40:40 quota – 40 per cent for Khasi/Jaintia tribes and 40 per cent for Garo tribes – and we are left with nothing.”
He lamented that although since April 2015, there has been fee exemption yet nothing has been done to provide employment to deserving candidates based on the 3 per cent reservation rule.
“Politicians make hollow promises when we approach them. Although a committee has been constituted but no fruits were seen as we have met only twice,” he added.
For now it seems that in order for the State to produce a Helen Keller, John Milton, Stephen Hawking or Ludwig Van Beethoven, it still has a long way to go in providing education to the PWDs by equipping them with the strength to battle all the odds.