It is compulsory for every private school to have 25 per cent of its seats reserved for differently-abled children, and the government would do its best to ensure that this is implemented, promised D. Sabitha, secretary for school education, addressing a gathering of special educators and school teachers.
She was speaking at the all India workshop on intervention of language, cognition and literacy for Down’s Syndrome children held in the city on Wednesday.
Admitting that most regular schools were not equipped to cater to the needs of special children , she said, “For the first time, the government has allotted a budget of Rs 15,000 crore for school education alone, of which inclusive education has a huge share.
To ensure the true sense of our support we are trying to have good infrastructure and trained teachers in every school,” she said, assuring that her department had earnestly begun focussing on the needs of children with Down’s syndrome.
Teachers from across the country are attending the two-day workshop, to receive training in enhancing the communication profile of special-needs kids .
Gillian Bird and Julie Hughes, both specialists in inclusive education and speech and hearing therapy, will conduct the workshop, organised jointly by Down Syndrome Association of Tamil Nadu, (DSATN), Madras ENT Research Foundation (MERF) and the National Rural Health Mission.
“Hearing impairment is found in 38 – 78 per cent of Down’s Syndrome children, as compared to 2.5 per cent for regular children.
All children with Down’s Syndrome must have audiologic screening at birth, followed by tests every 6 months till 3 years of age”, said Dr Mohan Kameswaran, director, MERF , whose team will train the delegates in developing language and reading comprehension skills in special needs children.
Dr Rekha Ramachandran, founder of DSATN, announced that the World Down Syndrome Congress in 2015 would be held in Chennai.