Mangalore, Mar 12: An autistic child has every right to pursue education in a 'normal' school and denial of this opportunity by school authorities amounts to violation of child rights, said Dr. Rameela Shekhar, Member, Juvenile Justice Board, DK.
Ms. Shekhar revealed this during an interaction meet on education and RTE related issues held at SDM College, Mangalore on Monday, when Alwyn D'Souza raised the issue of his 13-year-old autistic son being denied opportunity to study at a school in Neermarga.
Mr. D'Souza said that his son Anvil D'Souza has been studying at Navachethana English Medium School, Neermarga. He is also receiving special training from MV Shetty Institute of Speech and Hearing. But the school authorities have been taking objection to continuing with the child in the school year after year. The child is openly called names and called 'lunatic', Mr. D'Souza said, and alleged that the Headmistress of the school has been forcing him to take the child away and admit him in a school for the physically challenged.
Ms. Shekhar, who was one of the jury members in the meeting, said that autistic children have every right to go to a normal school. “It is just that they need special training”, she said.
Vasudev Sharma, Child Rights activist, pointed out that it is the responsibility of SMEs in private schools and SDMCs in government schools to address such grievances. Asha Nayak, Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee (CWC), DK, asked Mr. D'Souza to file a complaint with the CWC.
The issue of unchecked instances of corporal punishment in schools was raised by Bhanuprakash of Aatoor. Citing a case of such an instance at Aatoor Higher Primary School at Ramakunj of Puttur Taluk, Mr. Bhanuprakash said that class 7 students of the school were asked by their teachers to write essay type answers of 71 questions 1,321 times during mid-term vacations. A complaint was filed with Childline authorities but nothing much has happened in bringing the guilty to book, he said.
Ms. Nayak said that the matter had been brought to her attention by the Childline authorities. “We have issued summons to the BEO as well as SDMC President. They have not appeared before the CWC so far. As per the procedure, we have to issue three summons. If they fail to appear in spite of three summons, CWC has powers to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant against them”, Ms. Nayak said.
Krishna Shastri Balila, Education activist, suggested that teachers have to be trained in the right manner in the first place so that they don't resort to punishin children in such a manner. “There is a need to incorporate humanistic approach rather than behavioural approach in D.Ed syllabus”, he said.
Dr. Umesh Aradhya, President, Karnataka Child Rights Protection Commission, Renni D'Souza, Director, PADI Valorade, Umesh Nirmal, President, Shiikshana Sampanmoola Kendragala Okkuta, Suresh Bhat Bakrabail, activist, were among those present.
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