The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Center to immediately notify the norms of student-teachers ratio in particular schools. There should be separate standards for special teachers for such children as these teachers can provide education and training to children with special needs studying in normal schools in the country.
The Supreme Court said that until the competent authorities prepare a comprehensive action plan on this, as an interim arrangement, the recommendations made by the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, National Capital Territory of Delhi in 2019 should be adopted.
The recommendations made in the year 2019 state that the number of special education teachers with a particular disability should be determined on the basis of the generally accepted student-teacher ratio of 8:1 for children with 'cerebral palsy'.
Cerebral palsy is a 'neurological disorder' in which a child's physical movement, ability to walk, are affected.
A bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar, Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice CT Ravikumar gave this order on petitions filed on the problems of teachers holding B.Ed (Special) and D.Ed (Special) degree or diploma and fully trained teachers towards the needs of children with special needs.
The bench, in its 100-page judgment, said that the process of filling up the vacancies for the posts so created for rehabilitation professionals/special educators to be appointed on regular basis be initiated and it should be done within six months from today or within the academic year. To be completed before the start of 2022-2023.
The bench said that the training schools or institutions should take steps to increase the number to overcome the shortage of rehabilitation professionals/specially trained teachers.
The court directed the state commissioners appointed under Section-79 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 to initiate an automatic inquiry regarding compliance and then make recommendations to the appropriate authority, as may be necessary.
The bench said the state commissioners can submit a report to the court regarding compliance by the end of February 2022.
Simultaneously, the bench made it clear that the court was not deciding on the working conditions of the special teachers. The court listed the matter in the first week of March 2022 for consideration of the reports to be received from the state commissioners.
The bench also issued notices to the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Secretary, Ministry of Education in the matter.
The Supreme Court observed that there is a shortage of rehabilitation professionals or special educators who can provide education and training to persons with disabilities or children with special needs (CWSNs) alone and registered with the Rehabilitation Council of India.
The top court took note of the fact that the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has to take note of this disparity. He said that according to the 2011 census data, the number of persons with disabilities in the country is about 2.21 per cent of the total population.
