CHENNAI: The Ennum Ezhuthum books adapted to the needs of students with disability studying in government schools received good response from teachers and students from across the state. The school education department, under its inclusive education programme, distributed around 1.2 lakh copies of the books this year.
Ennum Ezhuthum scheme began in April 2022 for classes 1 to 3 in government schools to improve their basic literacy and numeracy skills. It was extended to classes 4 and 5 this academic year. However, disabled students, who were also given textbooks in these categories, found it difficult for them to learn the subjects. Considering this, the school education department this year has introduced books adapted for disabled children. The department conducted a baseline survey for the disabled kids to understand their requirements before creating the books.
The adapted textbook prioritisesvisual appeal and simplicity. It uses vibrant colours and increased pictorial content while minimising clutter. For instance, if the original textbook features ten balloons with different words and instructions to colour specific ones, the adapted version simplifies the activity to only four balloons. Additionally, the adapted book employs straightforward sentences, ensuring that children can easily comprehend the content. Officials said that some of the elements from this book have been now introduced in usual books also as part of the whole class approach.
“The books were prepared with inputs from the special educators working in government schools. Various activities and lessons have been simplified so the children with various learning disabilities can use them,” said an official from the school education department who worked on the books. The department has also provided a handbook for teachers on how to identify children with disabilities and how to use the adapted books.
“We were worried about how the learning of the disabled children would improve if the same textbooks were used and the children were not able to keep up with them. This is a good initiative and helps us to guide the teachers better on dealing with disabled children,” said P Velu, a special educator from Ranipet district.