The Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) on December 26 said that it will deploy rehabilitation para-professionals in the seven special schools it had taken over in line with the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016 and National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The development comes following discussions held in June in the meeting of the academic committee constituted to devise a plan for the transition of students of seven special schools, as stated in a report by PTI.
In the meeting matters related to admissions, facilities, curriculum and other pressing issues lacking in these schools were discussed. The committee members on Tuesday, December 26, unanimously decided to deploy rehabilitation paraprofessionals in all special schools, assess all children with disabilities, do their counselling, their parents' and teachers' counselling for smooth transition of students, deploy vocational instructors, provide teaching learning material and assistive technology, ensure regular training of the staff members, and organisation of parental counselling camps.
The meeting held under the chairpersonship of the director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training was conducted to reconsider and redesign the pedagogical approaches and practices for students with disabilities. In a second meeting in August, the committee finalised individualised school development plans for all seven special schools, PTI reported.
In April, the DoE had taken over these special schools, which were managed earlier by the Department of Social Welfare, GNCT of Delhi, after the high court's order. The decision was taken after a petition was filed by the National Federation of Blind alleging that specially-abled children in these schools were lacking basic amenities.
The schools taken over by the DoE are:
Government Nursery Primary School for Deaf and the School for Mentally Retarded Children in Mayur Vihar
Senior Secondary School for Blind Boys in Kingsway Camp and Middle School For The Deaf in Rohini Sector 4
Lady Noyce Nursery Primary School For The Deaf in Nehru Vihar and Delhi Gate
Government Senior Secondary School For The Deaf in Kalkaji.
