Arrogant schools deny rights for special children

Updated on: Thursday, April 07, 2011

When it comes to dealing with learning disability (LD), Mumbai’s schools and colleges are downright medieval. Several parents of children with LD complain of taunts like ‘mental’ thrown at their children. As for government policies on LD, educational institutions seem to be oblivious of the law.

Sheetal Kumar, the lawyer whose fight resulted in the high court’s landmark order on LD in 2006, says that while there is increasing awareness about LD, implementation of the law on the subject is almost nonexistent. “Teachers are not educated enough about LD. At the level of the principal and the school, there is a great deal of prejudice against students with LD,” said Kumar.

She recently fought a case in the high court for a CBSE student with LD, so that he could use a calculator in his exams. “When he was finally granted the concession, he was made to feel like a criminal,” she said.

Dr Harish Shetty, president, Counsellor’s Association of India, and an early pioneer of LD awareness, is currently treating 28 children with LD who have been denied their rights by the education boards. “This is because of the arrogance of the managements of educational institutions and also because of a complete lack of accountability by schools and colleges,” said Shetty.

Vincy D’Silva, mother of a student with LD, who battled the system together with Kumar’s client Suzan Machado, said she is flooded with calls from parents whose children have been denied concessions. While D’Silva has advised parents to fight for their rights, she knows that not everybody has it in him or her to fight the kind of battle she did when her son was discriminated against in school.

“I have been to hell and back,” she said. “The school education department should take a more proactive role in implementing the guidelines on LD. The laws exist. They just need to be followed.”

HSC EXAM CONCESSIONS

According to state board guidelines, students with learning disability are entitled to:

    1. An extra hour for a test.

    2. A writer.

    3. A calculator for maths, book keeping, and accountancy papers.

Arrogant schools deny rights for special children

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