Kerala is one of the States that has failed to follow the Supreme Court order to appoint special educators in every general school and, hence, was at the receiving end of the court’s whip recently.
The apex court in an order on August 22 had demanded the States that every general school that accommodated differently abled students as part of the ‘inclusive education’ programme should have a regular special educator appointed as resource person.
“We have been making this demand that there should be a special educator in every school, just like there are specialists for music, arts, and physical education. The resource persons appointed in general schools in the State at present are overworked and, hence, do not serve the purpose,” says Shahul Madavoor, a special educator and president of the Society for Rehabilitation of Differently Abled (SRDA).
In Kerala, at present, one resource person is often in charge of around five schools and, hence, cannot visit a school more than twice a week. Besides, they are forced to do clerical work at block resource centres, attend medical camps and such. As a result, the students do not get the service they deserve, Mr. Madavoor says.
The Kerala Resource Teachers’ Federation had procured a similar order from the Kerala High Court a few years ago but the State government had contested the order.
Besides Kerala, Chattisgarh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Delhi, Lakhsadweep, Puducherry and Ladakh had failed to follow the order.
However, responding to a writ petition filed on behalf of the special educators, the Supreme Court, on October 17, cracked the whip on these States and Union Territories. It asked the Chief Secretaries to file affidavits regarding their status in this regard, including the number of schools in the State and the number of sanctioned posts within three weeks.
