Differently abled trained in sports: UT

Chandigarh, May 21

The UT administration told the Punjab Haryana High Court that children with different abilities enrolled in Government schools were being imparted training in sports and other activities through physical education teachers and special educators, on Monday.

The bench hearing a case on children with different abilities was also told that UT was making sincere efforts to provide facilities to children with special needs in terms of the provisions of the relevant Act. It was planning activities as per the sanctioned budget. 

The bench was also told that private schools were requested to submit details of such students studying in their schools.Most of the schools had given only the number of students, but had not given the details regarding the type of disabilities.

The bench was also told that 25 special educator are appointed on contract basis under the centrally sponsored scheme of Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan in 114 schools. But there were no regular post of teacher or special educator sanctioned for government schools.

The details were placed before the Division Bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice B.S. Walia. The developments took place on a petition filed against the Union of India and other respondents by Jyoti Sehgal through counsel Karan Nehra.

She claimed that the manner of examination proposed by the CBSE for differently abled students was different from the way they were taught. 

Making it clear that differently abled students can be asked to take examinations only in the manner they are taught, the High Court has already issued a slew of directions, including possibility of different question papers and methodology for evaluation for different schools.

Besides, their centre of examination will be the schools they are studying in. Directions for 2017-18 session have also been issued for formulating a uniform pattern of imparting education to differently abled students, and also for developing software for all schools to upload data mentioning special abilities.  —TNS