Its justa tip of the iceberg; the whole concept of 'inclusive education' is marred with numerous loopholes. Let the disability sector introspect... http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/education/inclusive-chandigarh/education-volunteers-start-putting-in-their-papers/191386.html
Manish Sirhindi Tribune News Service Patiala, February 2 Inclusive education volunteers (IEVs), who were recruited in 2008 to educate the children with special needs (CWSNs), have now started putting in their papers as they have not been paid salaries since March last year. The project was initiated under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan by the Union Government under which 104 resource rooms were set up in the district. Here, children with special needs were taught by the IEVs appointed at the cluster and block level. In Patiala, nearly 7,219 CWSNs had been identified and a total of 125 inclusive education volunteers have been appointed. Along with resource room teaching, the IEVs also provided home-based education (HBE) to children whose condition was severe. In the district, there were nearly 432 CWSNs, who are covered under the HBE system. The CWSNs were mainstreamed to schools in different classes according to their ability. Children with visually and hearing impairment, mentally challenged, orthopedically problems, learning disability, multiple disabilities, cerebral palsy and even autism received education at these centres. Beant Singh, district president of the Inclusive Education Volunteers Union, said out of 125 volunteers, 29 had already resigned and more were contemplating to follow the suit. He said the government had been claiming that the project had been discontinued by the Union Government. “However, we have not received any written communiqué in this regard and they were still being sent duty schedules by the State Education Department,” he said. “Last month, a day before the Sadhbhawana rally that was held in Patiala, they had met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had assured them that their salaries would be released in a day or so and asked them not to hold any protests during the rally. However, even after 45 days there is no word from the government about the salaries,” Beant Singh said. Earlier, Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema had said that all other teachers except for the IEV volunteers were being paid. “The IEV volunteers are to be paid by the Centre, but the Union Government had decided to do away with the IEV scheme,” Cheema had said. Beant Singh said volunteers were being paid meagre salaries of Rs 4,500, while resource teachers in the same department were getting Rs 19,000 per month. “But even Rs 4,500 were not forthcoming,” he said. Deputy Manager of the project Saloni said the project had been discontinued by the Union Government two years ago, but the state government had decided to continue with it. She said last year, salaries of the IEV were paid by the state government, but this year no funds were received. She said the senior authorities of the department had already tak -- Avinash Shahi Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
