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Integrated Education

• Scope of IEDC

• Procedure for Implementation

• Administrative Cell

• Assessment of Disabled Children

• Facilities for Disabled Children

• Special Teachers

• Resource Room

• Architectural Barriers

• Regulations for Relaxation of Rules

• Pre-School and ECCE Facilities

Scheme for Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC)

The scope of the IEDC scheme includes

1. pre-school training for the disabled children and counseling for the parents.

2. up to senior secondary school level

3. and including vocational courses equivalent to the senior secondary stage.

Pre-school

• This would be an activity preparatory to the child coming into the regular school system with

  • special training for the hearing handicapped children,

  • mobility and orientation training for the visually handicapped,

  • daily living and communication skills training required by children with other disabilities,

  
  

• parent counselling and training in home management of these children.

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Procedure for Implementation

The implementing agency should set up an administrative cell under an officer not below the rank of Deputy Director to implement, monitor and evaluate the program. These officials will be chosen for their special qualifications in this field, or if they are not so qualified, will be trained in a course conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) or some other designated organization. This cell will identify the areas and institutions for implementing the scheme.

Identification of children with disabilities

To identify disabled children in the blocks/districts where the scheme is yet to be implemented, the first task should be to provide suitable orientation to all school teachers in the area for conducting a survey to identify disabled children in general schools. Teachers may be provided a small honorarium for conducting the survey. Each primary school may be provided RS.100 (to be shared by teachers) for conducting this survey. The IEDC cell should provide printed survey forms for identification of these children. Assistance up to RS.10,000 may be provided to the IEDC cell for this purpose. These efforts should be supplemented by publicity through mass media.

View Extracts from the Ministry of Welfare Notification table

(Pure tone average of hearing in 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz by air conduction should be taken as the basis for consideration as per test recommendations) Further, it should noted that

1. When there is only an island of hearing present in one or two frequencies in the better ear, it should be considered as total loss of hearing.

2. When there is no response (NR) at any of the three frequencies (500, 1000, 2000 Hz) it should be considered as equivalent to 130 dB loss for the purpose of classification of disability and in arriving at the average. This is based on the fact that maximum intensity limits in most of the audiometers is 110 dB and some audiometers have additional facilities for +20 dB for testing.

Visual Impairment Categories

The method of evaluation shall be the same as recommended in the Handbook of Medical Examination. Impairment of 20% to 40% or less may only be entitled to aids and appliances.

Teaching and Learning material

The State-level cell will make arrangements for equipment, learning materials, staff, etc. in order to provide education to disabled children. The cell will also set up the machinery for assessment of the disabled children. Wherever survey has been conducted by any other agency it would be utilised and augmented with the survey of disabilities not covered by the earlier survey. Monitoring and evaluation of the scheme at the State level will be carried out by the cell. The cell will ensure that the information regarding the scheme is widely known.

Administrative Cell

The Administrative Cell to be set up by the State Education Department will have a Deputy Director (in the scale of pay applicable in the State Government), a Coordinator (who will be a psychologist) in the scale applicable to a university lecturer, a Special Educator in the pay scale applicable to a university lecturer, a Stenographer and a Lower Division Clerk in the pay scales applicable in the State/UT.

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Assessment of Disabled Children

The Coordinator of the programme will be responsible for arranging for the assessment of the children and monitoring their progress on ongoing basis. A three-member assessment team, comprising a doctor, a psychologist and a special educator will be formed. The State/UT assessment team would function under the Administrative Cell.

Specialists will be drawn upon in consultation with the State Health Department. Wherever district rehabilitation centres have been established, its resources for assessment may be used. The non-government organisations (NGOs) with infrastructural facilities may also be used for assessment purposes.

The average cost of an assessment should not exceed RS.150 per disabled child. It will be necessary to examine a large number of children to select those considered suitable for placement in an integrated programme. Members of the assessment team would be given TA and DA as per State Government/UT Administration rules.

The assessment report should be comprehensive enough for educational programming; a profile of what a particular child can or cannot do during testing situations should be adequately reported. The report should specifically indicate whether the child can be put directly into school or should receive preparation in special school/special preparatory class in the Early Childhood Education Centre specially equipped for this purpose. Functional assessment can be carried out by the teacher if formal assessment is to take a long time so that the educational programme can be started for these children.

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Facilities for Disabled Children

1. A disabled child may be given the following kinds of facilities at the rates prevalent in the State/UT concerned. The facilities should, as far as possible, be given in kind. In case similar incentives are not being offered by the State Government/UT Administration under any other scheme, the following rates could be adopted.

   1. Actual expenses on books and stationery up to RS. 400 per annum.

   2. Actual expenses on uniform up to RS. 200 per annum.

   3. Transport allowance up to RS. 50 per month. If a disabled child admitted under the scheme resides in the school hostel within the school premises, no transportation charges would be admissible.

   4. Reader allowance of RS. 50 per month in case of blind children after Class V.

   5. Escort allowance for severely handicapped with lower extremity disability at the rate of RS. 75 per month.

   6. Actual cost of equipment subject to a maximum of RS. 2000 per student for a period of five years.

   
   

2. In the case of severely orthopaedically handicapped children, it may be necessary to allow one attendant for 10 children in a school. The attendant may be given the standard scale of pay prescribed for Class IV employees in the State/UT concerned.

3. Disabled children residing in school hostels within the same institution where they are studying may also be paid boarding and lodging charges as admissible under the State Government rules/schemes. Where there is no State scheme of scholarships to hostellers, the disabled children whose parental income does not exceed RS. 5000 per month may be paid actual boarding and lodging charges subject to a maximum of RS. 200 per month. However, disabled children should generally not be placed in hostels unless the required educational facilities are not available in the nearby schools.

4. Severely orthopaedically handicapped children residing in school hostels may need the assistance of a helper or an ayah. A special pay of RS 50 per month is admissible to any employee of the hostel willing to extend such help to children in addition to his/her duties.

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Special Teachers

Except for children with locomotor disabilities, special education teachers may be appointed in schools where the scheme is in operation to provide specific attention to the disabled children.

Appointment of Special Teachers

The teacher-pupil ratio for special education teachers envisaged under this scheme is 1:8. This ratio will be the same for normal classes as well as for preparatory pre-school classes. The same teachers will provide counselling to the parents. In accordance with this ratio the requisite number of special teachers may be appointed in schools (or for a cluster of schools) for children requiring special teacher support.

Qualifications

Special teachers so appointed should possess the following qualifications.

1. Primary: Academic qualifications as prevalent in the States and Union Territories with one year course, preferably multi-category, in special education or with specialization in teaching any type of disabled children depending upon the category of children enrolled in the IEDC Units. Such teachers can be oriented subsequently in the education of other categories of disability.

2. Secondary: Graduates with B.Ed. (Special Education) or any other equivalent professional training in special education.

Prescribed qualifications should be adhered to. In case qualified special teachers are not available, teachers with short training course may be appointed with the condition that they will complete the full course within three years of appointment. Special allowance for these teachers will be admissible only after completion of the full course. Teachers with single disability professional courses will be encouraged to take courses in other disabilities to improve viability in rural areas.

Since teachers with experience in Non-Formal Education (NFE) and Adult Education (AE) are likely to have a better understanding of local environment and need, they could also be identified for training under the scheme and appointed as special teachers.

Scales of Pay

The same scales of pay as available to the teachers of the corresponding category in that State/UT will be given to special teachers. Considering the special type of duties, these teachers will be given a special pay of RS 150 per month in urban areas and RS 200 per month in rural areas. The State Education Department may recruit such teachers for this purpose following the normal recruitment procedures.

Training

The facilities for the training of special teachers are readily available in the Regional Colleges of Education (RCEs), Regional Training Centres being run by the National Institute for the Handicapped, Special Education Departments in the universities and selected Colleges for Education. The training facilities are being further expanded.

The State Government may prepare an estimate of the requirements of teachers under each category of disability and send it to the Regional Colleges Education/District Institutions of Education and Training (DIETs), National Institutes for the Handicapped and the University Grants Commission under intimation to the NCERT. Since the appointment of fully trained, full-time resource teachers is an essential input for the successful implementation of the scheme, the State-Government/UT Administration must ensure appointment of such teachers on priority basis.

Under the scheme, grant is available through UGC for instituting full-time training courses for special teachers. The university/training institutes are expected to utilise the existing infrastructural facilities and other resources to the extent possible. The cost of the additional aids/equipment/space, and the additional faculty members will be met from the funds under this scheme. DIETs should organise in-service training courses for general teachers and refresher courses for resource teachers.

Training of other Staff

The successful implementation of the IED depends upon the responsiveness of the administrators and general teachers in the school. Short orientation courses for administrators, heads of the institutions and general teachers associated with the implementation of the scheme may be organised. Training of administrators/key persons will be organised by the NCERT.

State Government/UT administration may organise orientation programmes of three days' duration for heads of the institutions and of five days' duration for general teachers of the institutions implementing the IED scheme with the help of RCEs, Regional raining Centres and DIETs for the handicapped. The modules for these orientation programmes will be provided by the NCERT. Expenditure on TA/DA of the participants will be borne by the State Government/UT Administrations concerned. The cost of honorarium and TA/DA of resource persons and contingencies, etc. will be met under this scheme. The average cost of a three-day orientation programme is estimated at RS.4,500 and for a five-day programme at RS.6,000.

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Resource Room

A resource room having all the essential equipment, learning aids and materials may be provided for a cluster of schools implement ting the scheme of integrated education. The NCERT has prepared a handbook which also indicates the type of facilities which may be provided in the resource room.

Disability-wise Inventory of Equipment and Material Required for Resource Room

View Aids and equipments table

The average cost of such equipment is estimated at RS.30,000. The need for equipment would depend upon the disability types of the students enrolled in the associated schools. The resource room may be set up preferably in an existing room in the school. A new room may be built only where no accommodation is available to the satisfaction of the State Government. Grant shall be available for construction of a resource room in a school in such circumstances subject to a maximum of RS.50,000. NGOs/special schools wherever available should be used as resource centres for the IED programme in general schools.

Instructional Materials

At present sufficient facilities for production of instructional material for children with different disabilities do not exist in the country. Availability of requisite teaching/learning material for the disabled is vital for successful implementation of the scheme. The requirement of such materials is bound to increase with the increased coverage of disabled children. Financial assistance under this scheme will be available for purchase/production of instructional materials for the disabled and also for purchase of equipment required there of. Wherever necessary the available material may be translated and produced in regional languages.

Visually and hearing impaired children should be allowed to take only one language as already recommended. Provision for alternative modes of examination for blind and other children with physical disabilities coming in the way of writing should be considered and provided by the Boards of Examination.

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Architectural Barriers

It may be necessary to remove architectural barriers or to modify existing architectural facilities, so as to provide easier access to orthopaedically disabled children to the school premises. Grant shall be available for this purpose for the schools where such handicapped children are enrolled.

Regulations for Relaxation of Rules

State Government/UT Administrations/other implementing agencies should also frame regulations for relaxation of rules relating to admissions, minimum or maximum age limit for admissions, promotions, examination procedures, etc. for improving access of the disabled children to education. Provision for admission of disabled children older than the normal eligibility (up to 8-9 years instead of 6 years) is essential in the transitional phase at least till the target of universal primary education (UPE) is achieved.

Pre-School and ECCE Facilities

Preparation of disabled children for education being essential, preference should be given to the blocks where the schemes of Integrated Child Development (ICD) and Early Childhood Centres of Education (ECCE) exist while selecting blocks for implementation of the scheme. Support for services for disabled children will be available for instructional materials and training of teachers.