SAMBALPUR: A special BEd programme designed to train teachers for teaching children with special needs, which was supposed to start from the new academic session by the Odisha State Open University (OSOU), has now been dropped by the varsity authorities.
According to reports, the varsity had sent a proposal regarding the course to the Rehabilitation Council of India, an apex government body, set up under an Act of Parliament, to regulate training programmes and courses targeted at disabled, disadvantaged, special education requirement communities in around April last year. Later, the varsity had also started the process signing an MoU with the department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability (SSEPD) over the launch of the course. However, the varsity has decided to keep the course on hold for the time being.
Vice-chancellor Arka Kumar Das Mohapatra said, “I have already discussed the matter with the chairperson, Rehabilitation Council of India, Rajesh Agrawal and deputy director, RCI, Dr Subodh Kumar, in a recent meeting. The RCI wants OSOU to play a bigger role, in launching most of their programmes, rather than limiting it to BEd alone. I will be visiting Delhi for further discussion, and a team from their side will also visit OSOU for finalising the programmes and modalities.”
As per the previous plan, OSOU would have selected 10 institutions which are already recognised by the council across the state, for facilitating the course, with a seat strength of 50 students in each institution. The OSOU would have monitored the institution, conducted the examination and issued certificates upon completion of the course.
The course would have catered to the educational requirements of a specific target group. While the usual BEd. course is very much in demand at present, there are many special schools looking for trained teachers to teach the differently-abled students. In coming times, it will be helpful in employment generation for the graduates willing to take up a teaching career as they will get preference for their additional skill and get opportunity at both special schools and normal schools, he further stated.
Presently, the OSOU offers 46 courses, including 14 PG programmes, 11 UG programmes, 10 diploma and 11 certificate courses and more than 29,000 students from across the state are enrolled in the varsity.