Response has been sought by the Kerala High Court from the Centre and the State government on a plea seeking the framing of rules for children who are in need of special assistance in the SSLC and higher secondary exams without fixing a minimum disability percentage to avail benefits, like a scribe or amanuensis, under the Right of Persons with Disabilities Act.
Kerala High Court issued a notice to the Government of India and the Government of Kerala and sought their stand on the public interest litigation (PIL) by a differently abled student who claimed that a minimum of 40% disability is still the eligibility criteria in the southern state for special assistance to children who need it in the SSLC and higher secondary examinations, stated a report by PTI.
Despite a 2021 order of the high court to revisit the then existing guidelines and to issue fresh ones in tune with the Supreme Court directions that grant of facilities under the Act cannot be restricted only to persons with benchmark disabilities, the student contended that the criteria had still not changed.
The high court's 2021 direction came while rejecting an appeal filed by the state government against a single judge decision directing it to provide the educational benefit of the scribe as well as extra time to the petitioner who suffered from 25% learning disability.
In his PIL, the student has also sought that the orders passed in his case be made applicable to all students in need of special assistance in SSLC as well as higher secondary examination in schools of the southern state.
The petition also seeks a declaration that the disability of the students in need of support for their SSLC, as well as first and second-year higher secondary exams, be assessed by the authority as defined under the Right of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act.
It has also sought a declaration that all the differently abled students studying in the state schools who come under the definition of person with disability under the RPwD Act are entitled to assistance in their respective exams.
