Special child’s battle to pursue education

​Parvatipuram (Vizianagaram dist): Muvala Eswar, an intellectual disability child of Balagudaba, has been forced to drop out from the government high school in Parvatipuram of Vizianagaram district just in the run up to the Class X public examinations allegedly for want of inclusiveness in school education.

According to Rama, boy’s mother, the school headmaster issued transfer certificate (TC) and sent him away in the middle of the academic year on the plea that the school would lag behind in final results if children suffering from mental disabilities were allowed to take the public examination.

Son of a poor farm worker, Eswar was admitted in a an open school run by a private institute at Belgaum 3 km away following his mother’s determination to support his education. He will become the first person to take the final exam as no other students with mental disabilities reached that level.

Open school enables dropouts to appear for Class X exam directly and the candidates require to attend contact classes once in a week on Sundays. School Head Master P Nagaiah, when contacted for clarification, told The Hans India that he could not continue the student in school as his intellectual abilities were so poor that he could not even mention his roll number in the OMR sheet in the exam hall.

Eswar Rao, a challenged boy right from his birth, received support up to Class X under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. His fate began to hang in balance when he was promoted to Class IX and feel alienated for want of special care from teachers and rank war engaged by schools made life miserable for him.

The case of Eswar Rao is only tip of the iceberg as complaints were galore that several students suffering from mental retardation, cerebral fallacy and autism are facing a similar hardship in the district. Tirumala Devi, engaged as inclusive education resource teacher (IERT) in the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme in Parvatipuram, said the candidates taking the Class X exam with mental disabilities have been subjected to gross injustice.

In the OMR (Optical Mark Reading) sheet, there is a provision for mention of the status of candidates as ‘visually impaired’ and ‘mentally impaired’. But those suffering from mental retardation, autism and cerebral fallacy are deprived of this facility. As a result, they are forced to compete with the other children. The visually-impaired and hearing-impaired students are allowed to secure only 20 marks to pass the exam.

Besides, they are permitted to take half an hour more than the stipulated duration of the exam with the help of a scriber. Tirumala Devi, who too has a intellectually-challenged son, emphasised the need for the children with mental disabilities also to take the support of scribe while taking the exams.

Eswara Rao, secretary of the district IERTs Association, said suspension of any student and the mentally- challenged in particular by school authorities amounted to violation of the Right To Education. Quoting recent surveys, he estimated that there are around 8,000 children with 21 types of deformities, including mental disabilities, in the district.

Vizianagaram District Education Officer Arunakumari said she had not received any complaint from parents of denial of admission or suspension of students in Class X on grounds of mental disabilities anywhere in the district. Instead, she asserted, the school education department has commissioned sensitisation programmes for school headmasters and teachers to extend special care for ‘special children’ under Rastriya Madyamika Siksha Abhiyan at Class IX and Class X levels in the district.

Vizianagaram district had secured 92.7 per cent pass percentage in Class X last year and the district administration has given the school authorities the targets to shore up the results up to 100 per cent in the current academic year. UTF district secretary Sishagiri underlined the need to evolve a policy for the intellectually-challenged students with an exclusive exam and curriculum patterns and employment avenues in suit with their mental abilities.