Special schools still wait for aided tag in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: Special needs students, parents and teachers still await a favourable response to their long-standing demand for aided category to 33 special schools. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had promised the State Association for Coordinating Rehabilitation and Empowerment of Developmentally Disabled (SACRED) on November 2 last year that its request will be granted at the earliest. This was after their two-day Secretariat dharna in November, attended by more than 10, 000 people. But so far it has remained on paper.

The Chief Minister’s Office had asked the social justice department to hold consultative meetings with stakeholders to zero in on a solution. Pinarayi Vijayan also held meetings with special needs school principals. Accordingly, the social justice department was asked to come up with a detailed report on ways to grant aided category to 33 special schools, a decision about which was taken by the previous UDF Government. Unfortunately when the LDF Government came to power in 2016, it cancelled this order much to the despair of 20, 000 special needs students, their parents and over 5000 teachers in the State.

“We are aware that the social justice department is planning to come up with a grading system for the special schools. An expert committee will grade the schools as per their infrastructure, staff and students’ strength. We are hoping that the LDF Government will see the plight of the 15, 000 special needs students, their parents and the teachers’ long standing demand”, said Father Roy Vadakkel, chairman of the Association for Intellectually Disabled (AID) and director of Asha Nilayam Special School for Mentally Challenged Children at Ponkunnam in Kottayam district.

But a top Government official came down heavily against the LDF Government citing that Pinarayi Vijayan could have considered the demands of SACRED much earlier without much delay.

“Unfortunately funds will not be earmarked for the functioning of special needs schools in the State budget as of now. In fact the slew of demands by the SACRED office bearers has so far not been considered favourably and the LDF Government is doing nothing”, said a top Government official to DC.