UGC posers on disabled-friendly infrastructure have PU in a bind

Tribune News Service

Radhika Pasrija

Chandigarh, October 11

In July, the University Grants Commission (UGC) initiated a survey via Google Form to assess the extent to which higher educational institutions are functioning in compliance with the provisions of Section 32 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.

Panjab University recently responded to questions put forth by the UGC, and the construction office here declared that 62 buildings are accessible up to the plinth level (height between 300 mm and 450 mm). The PU campus accommodates over 90 regular PwD students. Of 634 teaching personnel, only 11 fall in the PwD category and of 2,055 non-teaching personnel, 22 are persons with disabilities. As per the guidelines, 4 per cent of seats must be reserved for PwD in every hierarchical division, which is not the case.

As part of the response to the UGC, PU declared that it was currently exercising 5 per cent reservation in admissions, 4 per cent in direct recruitments and none as far as reservation in promotions are concerned. As per the Accessibility Guidelines and Standards for Higher Education Institutions and Universities and Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Universal Accessibility in India 2021, there are 18 disabled-friendly bathrooms on the campus, claim the authorities.

“If I’m supposed to rate, I wouldn’t give a single point to the PU infrastructure in terms of it being disabled-friendly. No toilet on the campus meets the space standards. Even the AC Joshi Library is inaccessible,” said Ravi Kumar, a student of Department of Community Education and Disability Studies.

Narender Luthra, Assistant Section Officer, Equal Opportunities Cell for Persons with Disabilities, PU, said efforts were on to conduct an accessibility audit for a more calculated review of how disabled-friendly was PU’s infrastructure. “DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) format (audible books) is being used in recording room devoted to PwD students. Soon, a Kibo XS Scanner, which can read text in 40 languages, including hand-written notes, will be made available to persons with disabilities,” he said. “We are amending rules, taking into account residence allotment, leaves, roster, hostel accommodation, and infrastructure accessibility, as per the RPwD Act,” he said.

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