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In a violation of the landmark RTE Act, one teacher on an average looks after 150 children with special needs (CWSN) in the state run schools in Punjab, information obtained under Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed. The Right of Children to free and compulsory Education Act (RTE) mandates that there should be at least one special education teacher for every 10 students with disabilities enrolled (at primary level from class 1 to 5) and for classes 6 to 8, there should be at least one teacher for 15 students with disabilities. However, the information provided by state education department on data pertaining to 19 districts paints a sorry picture: Against a total of 44,604 children with disabilities enrolled in government schools, there are only 279 special educators. This indicates that on an average, over 150 students are being handled by a single teacher. The data further reveals that situation is worse in border districts Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran where each special educator is handling over 300 students. In districts such as Bathinda, Ludhiana , Ferozepur, Mansa and Sangrur, one teacher is handling over 200 students, as per the data. In other districts too, one teacher is handling over a hundred students. Only in Hoshiarpur, Mohali, Pathankot and Ropar, the ratio is little better. The applications under the RTI was filed by Berozgaar Vishesh Sikhya Adhyaapak Union. A total of 2,500 unemployed special teachers are members of this union. Under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyaan, CWSN have equal right to education and each state has to hire inclusive education resource teachers (IERT) who hold appropriate qualification to handle children with special needs. According to the RTI replies by district education offices from 19 districts, there are only seven special educators for 859 children with special needs in Malerkotla, 18 teachers for 2,568 children in Jalandhar , 14 teachers for 1,649 children in Fatehgarh Sahib, 16 for 1,472 children in Ropar and eight teachers for 1,416 children in Kapurthala district. In Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran, there are just seven and six teachers for 2,300 and 2,316 special children, respectively. In Bathinda, there are 20 teachers for over 4,400 children, in Moga 15 for over 2,000 children, in Faridkot nine for over 2,016 children, in Mansa five for 1,179 children and in Muktsar 18 for over 2,100 students. Fazilka has 18 special educators for over 2,900 children and Ludhiana has 30 teachers only for 7,330 children with special needs. In Sangrur, there are nine teachers for 2,215 children, in Ferozepur 18 for over 2,800 students, in Hoshiarpur 29 teachers for 2,663 children and in Mohali, 23 teachers for 1408 students. In none of the districts, the state is even near to the ideal ratio of one teacher for 10-15 special children, according to the RTI replies. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court in a matter related to the hiring of teachers for disabled children, Punjab government in October last year had stated that a total of 47,979 children with special needs were enrolled in government and aided schools of state and 598 teachers were enrolled to teach them. However, of 598, at least 386 were contractual teachers, 89 were assistant teachers of special education and only 123 were listed as regular teachers, as per the affidavit. The affidavit undersigned by secretary education Kamal Kishor Yadav further stated that there are 3,911 vacancies for special educators in Punjab as per the ratio mandated by the RTE. The affidavit had further said that the state planned to fill vacancies within two years and a committee was constituted under the Director General of School Education (DGSE) to appoint special education teachers. Yadav in the affidavit had further told the apex court: “…The proposal for creation/conversion of 3,911 posts as per vacancies for special education teachers posts is under process…It may also be highlighted there is dearth of qualified special teachers in the state. The state, despite this is actively considering to fill up vacancies after following proper procedure… Given the dearth of special teachers in the state, regular teachers are being sensitized and by expert resource persons to handle basic diverse disabilities of children with special needs in their respective schools…” Amandeep Singh, an unemployed qualified special educator, who is also the president of Berozgaar Vishesh Sikhya Adhyaapak Union, said that regular teachers cannot even identify detect disabilities. “It would be too far fetched to expect that they should teach and handle CWSN. It requires separate qualification. Last it was in 2010 that Punjab government had advertised 293 posts for special educators but no hiring has been done after that. Even as the RTE mandates one teacher for ten pupils, the norm is being violated in Punjab and special children are being deprived of their right to education,” he said. Reached for a comment, Yadav said: “It won’t be a viable idea to hire so many special educators to fulfil the ratio under the RTE so we have requested the Rehabilitation Council of India (a statutory body under the union ministry of social justice and empowerment which trains persons with disabilities in different skills) to provide training to our regular teachers under their special courses to handle special children. Our existing teachers can be trained to handle CWSN. We are working on it.” None
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