(a) whether the Government has formulated any policy to ensure that adequate number of teachers are employed in Government-run schools to tend to the needs of children with disabilities, State-wise;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there are sufficient number of teachers available in Government-run schools where the number of children with disability is more than five; and
(d) if not, the steps taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
(SHRI KRISHANPAL GURJAR)
(a-b) The teachers for disabled students falls under the purview of Ministry of Human Resource Development. As per them, under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which covers students from class I to VIII, the norm is to provide for 2 resource persons exclusively for Children with Special Needs (CWSN) at Block Resource Centre. These resource persons can operate in an itinerant mode covering a group of schools where CWSN are enrolled. These resource persons advice general education teachers on teaching and management of CWSN in regular classrooms.
Under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA), the component Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) covers all children studying in class IX-XII in Government, local body and Government-aided schools. As per the norms, any Government or Government-aided schools where the number of children with disability is more than five should appoint one special educator. If the number children is less than 5 in the school, Special Educator could work for a group of school in a cluster.
(c-d) The Department of School Education & Literacy approves the posts of Special Educators on the basis of Annual Work Plan submitted by the States/UTs as per the norms of the scheme. However, education, being a subject in the concurrent list of the constitution and the majority of the schools being under the jurisdiction of the State Government, it is for the respective States to appoint sufficient number of Special Educator in their schools.
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