CUTTACK: The Supreme Court’s direction to the Centre and states including Odisha to notify the number of sanctioned posts of teachers to educate children with special needs by March 28 and fill up the posts within 12 weeks has kindled hopes among special educator aspirants in the state.
The order assumes significance as 86,689 of the 15,63,470 children with special needs in the country are in Odisha as per data presented before the court.
According to the Odisha Special Educator Federation for Divyang, the state is yet to identify and sanction the required number of special educator posts. Federation president Suryakanta Behera, however, said, if the recruitment process is completed as per the Supreme Court’s direction, more than 9,000 unemployed special educator aspirants in the state will be benefitted.
General secretary Ayusman Choudhury said, “The Supreme Court’s direction is expected to improve access to quality education for children with disabilities in Odisha and ensure their right to inclusive education under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.”
The apex court issued the direction on petitions filed by teachers from different states including Odisha. Highlighting the dearth of special educators, the petitioners submitted that to make Right to Education a success, it was essential to appoint qualified professionals in each school to help children with disabilities prepare for life challenges.
The two-judge bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran in the March 7 order said, “After the posts have been sanctioned and notified, which shall be done positively within a period of three weeks from today - on or before 28.03.2025, these posts need to be advertised at least in two newspapers having wide circulation in the respective states as well as on the website of the Department of Education and also on the official government website of each of the states.”
“Let the selection and appointment be made of qualified/competent/eligible teachers only. Let all of this be completed within a period of twelve weeks from today which will include the three weeks for the sanctioned posts which have to be identified,” the bench said.
The bench also directed the states to immediately constitute a screening committee comprising the state commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, secretary of Education and a nominee of the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).