Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu :
In a giant leap forward in making higher education courses disabled-friendly, the University Grants Commission has asked universities across the country to implement the recommendation of the expert committee constituted by Ministry of Human Resource Development to identify the courses according to the category of disabilities. This includes inducting a disability expert into the Board of Studies in order to make necessary modifications in the course.
The committee headed by Neelam Nath, former secretary of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW), Ministry of Defence, felt that disability should not be cited as a reason to deny admission to a particular course. While some specific disability conditions cause challenges to the persons with disability to study with ease, the choice of selection of the course should be entirely left to them, if they fulfilled the minimum stipulated criteria, it added.
The committee also recommended that the Board of Studies of universities, which were designing the courses, should come out with specifications on what kind of challenges each course might pose to specific disabilities so that persons with disability were aware of such challenges before preferring the course.
“In case a person with disability is willing to undergo a course knowing well the challenges, he/she should be allowed to pursue the course and institutions should try to provide as much assistance as possible to the student.
In this respect, the academic needs of the learners should be taken into consideration in drawing the academic plan including curricular transactions,” it said.
In both the formal and distance mode of higher education, options available for the diffabled should be on par with others.
The Board of Studies should assess the skills compatible with the job market and suitably adapt the courses and curriculum keeping in view the accessibility requirement of each disability in a normal classroom situation in both technical and non-technical courses.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by S Mannar Mannan / March 03rd, 2015