Sans special educator, CBSE schools flout rules

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 20

Many Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools in the city are not adhering to affiliation rules that make mandatory the appointment of special educators to cater to differently-abled students. The board has already made it mandatory in the schools to have such educators.

As per the Rule No13 (11) of Affiliation Byelaws of the board, the direction was issued last year to all affiliated schools to appoint ‘special educators’ to ensure quality education for all children, including kids with special needs, as per Sections 3, 8(c) and 9 (c) of the Right to Education Act, 2009.

Anand Isher Senior Secondary School has no special educator. A former Principal, Bipan Sethi, said: “We had one special educator earlier. Since we have no special child in the school now, there is no such teacher.”

Similarly, the Principal of Atam Public School, Uma Devi, said: “We have two special children. However, there is no special educator for them. We have released an advertisement for the vacancy of special educator already but no one turned up.”

Udham Singh Nagar-based Bhartiya Vidya Mandir School has no special educator. Principal Bandana Sethi: “At present, we do not have any special educator. But we will hire one as the need arises.”

Explaining the necessity to appoint special educators, BCM Arya School Principal Paramjit Kaur said: “What is inclusive education, if we are selective in our approach? We cannot close gates for special children. Every school must have a special educator since when we admit a student in the nursery class, we hardly know at what point in life the student may need special care. These educators are trained to take special care of such children. We cannot run away from our responsibilities. Our school has a special educator for the past 10 years.”

What circular reads

CBSE circular dated 13.06.17 reads, “It has been observed that many schools affiliated with the board are not adhering to the provision concerning appointment of Special Educators. In this connection, your attention is invited to Rule 13(11) of Affiliation Byelaws which provides to promote inclusion of students with disabilities/special needs in the normal school as per provisions of the ‘Persons with Disabilities Act 1995’ and in conformity with National Policy of Education. Management and the head of the CBSE affiliated schools are hereby directed to strictly follow the above provisions and make arrangement immediately to appoint special educators in their respective school(s).”