BHUBANESWAR: Administrative lapses allegedly on part of the School and Mass Education and Social Security & Empowerment of Persons With Disabilities Department (SSEPD) departments have put the careers of 139 differently-abled Class X students at stake with their HSC results not being published this year.
Their results have been withheld as the nine special schools in which they are studying are yet to get affiliation from the Board of Secondary Education (BSE). The schools are Sri Sri Baleswar School for the Deaf and School for the HI in Cuttack, School for the Blind in Balasore, Manoj Manjari School for the Blind in Keonjhar, Harsha Mishra Memorial Sishu Vidyalaya for the Deaf and Louis Braille School for the Blind in Khurda, SVM School for the Deaf in Puri, and two schools for the Deaf and Blind in Sundargarh.
The schools are run privately by NGOs and different trusts and draw grant-in aid from the SSEPD department every year. Despite this, they have not been provided NOC and affiliation from the Directorate of Secondary Education and BSE leading to results of 139 Class X students being withheld.
Dibakar Saw, Director of ‘The Welfare’ that runs the School for the Blind in Balasore, said that their request for NOC has been pending before the Directorate of Secondary for Education for years though they had applied for it on appropriate forum with the help of the district education officer in 2013 and received clearance from Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) in 2015. He said all 15 students of their school have appeared in the half-yearly test and pursued regular courses till Class 9.
Officials of SME and SSEPD departments could not be reached for their comments.