SSA plans to include more kids with special need

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The home-based education programme of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in the state will receive a fillip next year under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act. The SSA is all set to do a child tracking to update the data on Children With Special Needs (CWSN) to take the programme to more students who are out of school owing to their disabilities. At present, around 2,400 CWSN are receiving home-based education across the state with 1,400 Resource Persons (RP) in 156 Block Resource Centres (BRCs) put into action. According to the norms of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), one RP is to educate two special students. However, under the RTE, this has been upped to three students. The SSA is all set to recruit 450 more RPs in the state for home-based education, the procedures for which will start by the end of December. Though the state SSA is yet to develop more concrete strategies for the education of children with special needs, the recently held Research and Evaluation Coordinators Meeting here had opined that it was far ahead in the case of home-based education compared to many other states.As many as 16 states had participated in the meeting. The inclusive learning method in schools for the disabled has received good response in the state compared to many other places. However, there is a lot more to be desired.  “The 2,400 students were chosen on the basis of a survey done some years back which had found that there were more than 6,000 out-of-school CWSN students. Of them, we picked up the children who are trainable. Another child tracking will now be necessary to update the figures. And, once 450 RPs are newly appointed, at least another 1,000 special children could be included in the learning process even if they remained confined to their homes,’’ said Ahmadkutty, SSA state programme officer, CWSN. In its proposals for the nine studies to be undertaken next year, which was submitted at the Research and Evaluation Meeting, SSA has included a study on the effectiveness of the home-based education too.  According to officials, the shortcomings revealed through the studies are mended by developing strategies by including them in the annual work plan.