DU Academic Council clears the recommendations of the empowered committee

Updated on: Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Delhi University's Academic Council, which met on Monday, cleared the recommendations of the empowered committee constituted to examine the foundation courses to ensure all parts are accessible to students with disabilities, especially the visually impaired. In addition to making suggestions, the committee has also sought Rs.1.8 crore as funds for "providing support to students with disabilities during Four-Year Undergraduate Programme". There were five dissents recorded.

The committee had sought the inputs of A K Mittal, president, All India Confederation of the Blind, and George Abraham, CEO of Delhi-based Score Foundation "to obtain their perspectives on visual impairment with regard to the new UG programme on the basis of their expertise and lived experiences". The committee also considered suggestions made by Kartik Sawhney, a blind student who's passed the Boards with a 95% aggregate in science and is going to Stanford to study computer science.

The committee, while maintaining that "no modification in the curricula... called for", has suggested that for students who can't at all handle the two courses—Science and Life and Building Mathematical Ability—that disability rights group Sambhavana Organization had raised questions about, these can be replaced with History of Science and Communication and Personality Development. The vice-chancellor has been requested to get the syllabi for these prepared. Sambhavana had taken DU to court over the compulsory science course which, they argued, would further alienate the already marginalized blind students, most of whom would not have been allowed to study science beyond Class VIII.

In response to the recommendations made by Sambhavana, the reports points out that "the course does not involve teaching of hard core science nor of different scientific disciplines... students with disabilities including the visually impaired will be able to do the course fully for which they would, of course be provided all requisite technological support as also peer-tutoring." Sambhavana had also suggested a "bridge course" but the committee chose to go with "remedial teaching/tutorials throughout the first year." As for equipment, they'll get an abacus for each visually-impaired student, Taylor frame, tactile geometry kit, Brailer (one for each college) and necessary software.

Sambhavana had also suggested teaching of these courses be moved to the second year as that would allow the bridge courses to bring the students up to the level of the rest of the class, but the committee felt "the measure will be counter-productive and will be contrary to the principles of inclusion and equality for persons with disabilities." "The Equal Opportunity Cell of DU introduced a number of policies last year for the disabled including complete fee-waiver and this year we have also issued separate admission guidelines for colleges," says Bipin Tiwary, OSD, EOC.

The report was tabled before the AC on Monday. Nikhil Jain of Sambhavana has said in a statement that the organization's members were given "no opportunity to read and reflect on it with the seriousness it deserves" and that relevant accessible devices and reading material "will come as per the needs of Disabled." The syllabi for History, Sociology and Adult Education (Discipline II only) were also tabled at the same meeting and passed.

DU Academic Council clears the recommendations of the empowered committee

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