NEW DELHI: Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary on Friday said the identification of the degree of disability in individuals was proving to be a challenge.
He was delivering the valedictory address during the three-day Inclusive Education Summit. “The degree of disability refers to 40% or higher disability benchmark which qualifies an individual to benefit from social schemes as well as reservations in education and employment,” explained a senior education official.
Chaudhary complimented the free-flowing dialogue among all the stakeholders that the summit had initiated. “There is a lot of churn happening in the education sector in States in terms of investment and reforms by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP is a very progressive document. However, a policy is just a physical document unless one takes it to heart and implements it.”
Interactions like the summit would help identify the constraints and challenges in implementing them, he added.
Referring to a commendable initiative by Andhra Pradesh, he said the state is establishing special centres for autistic children under the PM-Shri scheme, which will also focus on skill development and feature a hi-tech lab and robotics facilities.
The NEP believes there no full stops in knowledge acquisition and skilling, the Minister added.
Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Sanjay Kumar, said this was the first time an initiative had been undertaken where in all stakeholders working for Inclusive education like the teachers, schools, the government and innovators bringing out products for those with special needs were brought together on a common platform. “Some innovations showcased here could be life changing for children with special needs. However, they need scaling in a big way and therein lies the challenge. Their benefits will reach a good number only when they can be made available in a large scale” he said.
Chandan Pant, Working Force Staffing Manager, Amazon India, made a presentation during the event. He said the company roughly had 3,000 Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) on its payrolls spread across Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and the NCR Region. “We are waiting with jobs for them. If those with PWDs are directed to us, we will be glad to induct them into the workforce,” he said.