Andhra Pradesh Samagra Shiksha State Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao on March 14 (Thursday) said that 13 students with special needs from Rural Development Trust (RDT) High School for Inclusive Education in Anantapur would write the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations in digital mode.
Last year, six students with special needs from the same school passed the exam without a scribe or help and created a national record. “The six students created history last year by writing their examinations in digital mode,” said Mr. Rao, adding that the students wrote their 11th class examination this year in science, mathematics and economics as main subjects.
Mr. Rao said that the Samagra Shiksha was designing a special project called ‘Vision 2025-Inclusive Andhra’, besides extending digital support to the children with special needs. He said the idea was to enable children with special needs such as blindness, low vision and hearing impairment, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, autism and also students who cannot use print effectively due to neuro and orthopaedic medical conditions (Specific Learning Disabilities) write their exams like normal students using technology.
He said under the project, 1,000 students were identified and around 2000 teachers were given a comprehensive training to cater to the technology-related needs of the special children. A new initiative called Digitally Accessible Pedagogy (DAP) is also being implemented to help these children overcome digital barriers, he said.
Mentorship programme
Meanwhile, a three-day training programme organised by the Samagra Shiksha, in collaboration with the School Education Department, Andhra Pradesh State Council of Educational Research and Technology (SCERT), UNICEF, Vigyan Ashram, Department of Higher Education and Board for Community Development through Education, on Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) ended.
The mentorship programme was held for 125 students from 24 engineering colleges in three JNTU colleges. The trained students will visit the Atal Tinkering Hubs and help teachers and students address projects related to electronics and 3D printing.
