THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Bijith, a ninth standard student at Pattom St Mary’s School in the city, was thrown into a complex situation on the first day of the SSLC examination. He was a scribe for Anand (name changed), a mentally retarded student who was attending the examination at the school under the Inclusive Education for the Disabled (IED) Scheme. Bijith was a bit perplexed when Anand suddenly fell asleep in the middle of the exam.
Bijith, who became confused, turned to the invigilator on duty for help. However, he was instructed to let Anand take a short nap before he woke up and resumed answering the questions.
A few similar incidents took place inside the examination hall in the IED wing of the school during the two hours of the examination, including a mentally challenged candidate trying to get up and walk out of the room while the examination was in progress. The invigilators and the resource teachers inside the examination hall had to block the doorway to force him back to his seat.
Like previous years, St Mary’s Higher Secondary School, Pattom, features the most number of candidates under the IED scheme in the district - as many as 30 students, including vision and hearing impaired and mentally challenged children. Interpreters and scribes were allowed to help the students.
R Rajan, the Deputy Director of IED in the State, said that there has been a huge improvement in the number of students appearing for the SSLC examination under the IED Scheme in the State. As many as 7,845 students are appearing for the examination under the Scheme across the State this year. The number was just over 5,000 last year.
‘’Even though it has been over four decades since the IED Scheme was introduced in the State, the parents of the disabled children were not aware of it until recently. This is evident from the fact that only a mere 240 students had appeared for the examination under IED Scheme just seven years ago,’’ Rajan said.
He also said that IED has managed to produce a pass percentage of over 90 so far.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com