SHILLONG: The CSWO on Tuesday urged the government to ensure that children with benchmark disability have the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school, or in a special school of their choice.
CSWO president Agnes Kharshiing, in a statement issued here said that the organisation was informed that parents of children studying in the School and Centre for Hearing Handicapped Children, a unit of the society for the Welfare of the Disabled, Bethany Society Campus, are given instructions through a Whatsapp group that the school will open from May 27 – 29, for the distribution of the midday meal rice.
Parents were also requested to pay the school fees, dues of stationery items so as to enable the school to pay the teachers, Kharshiing said in the statement.
The organisation, said that according to the Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, every child with benchmark disability between 6 to 18 years of age shall have the right to free education.
On distribution of mid day meal, the organisation has urged the government to ensure that it is done fairly, as they have received several complaints regarding the unequal distribution of the mid day meal as it differs from other schools.
‘The government has to ensure that all are equal and no inconsistency is shown in the distribution of the benefits to the children, especially to the poor children from poor families’, Kharshiing said.
‘The government should also provide transportation for the PWDs when they are called to the school’, she added.
