BENGALURU: Around 400 specially abled students have taken secondary (Class 10) and senior secondary (Class 12) courses through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) this year.
V Swaminathan, the regional director of NIOS, said, “There are individuals as well as organisations that enroll specially abled children to pursue education through NIOS. Every year, during exams, we provide scribes to the candidates. For instance, in Bengaluru, Spastic Society of Karnataka, Ramana Maharshi School for Blind and an NGO Asha Kiran have registered their students to write exams in April 2025. We provide them with all sources and materials so that they can prepare for the exams.”
The students include children with autism, cerebral palsy, blindness, low vision and speech or hearing impairment. Other specific learning disabilities include dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and poor locomotor abilities, he said.
Priya Rao, the director of projects and administration at the Spastics Society of Karnataka, said, “We have smaller classrooms where the teacher–children ratio is 12:1, so that we can pay better attention and understand their way of learning. Those who face extreme difficulty in learning, we have a one on one teaching facility for such specially abled children. At least 30 children from our institution enroll in NIOS every year.”
She added, “Students in Class 10 clear three subjects in the first year and two subjects in the second year. Children with special needs may have difficulties in understanding maths and science. So, they can opt for history, Indian culture and heritage art, painting, music and other courses. In case of slow learners, we will choose subjects like data entry, home science, business studies and others such subjects.”
Apart from this, specially-abled students get 20 minutes extra for every one hour to complete their papers. If the child has difficulty reading the questions, they are also provided with 02the readers who reads questions for them so that they can write the answers.
There is also caregiver facility in the exam hall especially when they feel anxious while writing the exams.