At a time when education boards across the country are bringing about changes in their curricula to accommodate children with autism
and learning disability (LD), many feel that the education system is
still far from being student-friendly in the true sense. Several cases
in the recent past have highlighted the problems such students still
face, including apathy from schools, education department and society.
In October 2012, the parents of a seven-year-old autistic student of
Jamnabai Narsee School in Andheri took the school management to court
after they told them to pull out their son from their school and shift
him to a school for special children. The case is still on at the state
commission for protection of child rights. This was not the only case
where an autistic child has been expelled from school.
"There are several concessions for children with autism and LD, but
the education department and schools are still not ready to accommodate
them," said activist Aarti Makhijia.
TOI had also reported about
the problems faced by autistic children in the state, especially those
who choose to drop Marathi and opt for another subject. "The problem for
these children is that all books of the optional subjects are in
Marathi. After repeatedly informing the education department to
translate the books into English, there has been no change in the last
two years," said Sunit Sen, father of an autistic child.
Members of the Forum For Autism (FFA) had to follow up with the state board officials for years before it agreed to give concessions to autistic children, giving them a chance to appear for the exams like other kids. "Though there is much awareness about this issue, we still hear of cases where autistic kids are being targeted. Schools need to be more broad-minded," said Chitra Iyer from FFA.
While other boards had introduced the concessions in 2009, the state board allowed the same in 2010. In March 2011, the first time six autistic kids appeared for the SSC board exams.
Recently, the father of an LD student from an ICSE school filed a plea in the high court seeking that his daughter be treated like regular students in the online junior college admissions process. The education department had disallowed ICSE students with LD to apply in the online process due to the subjects they chose. "The ICSE board tried to enable these children and gave them a chance to score well, but the state board tried to disable them by treating them differently. The education system need to be more accommodating," added the father.
Source : TOI , 15th August 2013
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