Bhubaneshwar: Govt asks collectors to monitor special schools

BHUBANESWAR: State social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities department has asked the district collectors to come up with a mechanism to ensure smooth monitoring of special schools established for persons with disabilities in different parts of the state.
In a letter to all the district collectors, social security department secretary Bhaskar Jyoti Sharma has asked them to distribute specific duties among the top district level officials, who will conduct periodic checks and suggest measures for regular monitoring and improvement of such schools.
“You are aware that at present 103 special schools for different categories of children with disabilities are functioning in the state under grant-in-aid fold to provide special education. Those special schools are both residential and non-residential,” read Sharma’s letter to the district collectors.
Sharma further mentioned that the provisions of Rights to Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, provide for quality services, safety and security of those children. “It is necessary to monitor those institutions regularly by developing a suitable mechanism at district level by involving field functionaries and departments concerned,” he said.
Sharma asked the district collectors to involve additional district magistrates and sub-collectors by assigning them specific responsibilities.
The Right to Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, asks to monitor participation, progress and attainment level of children with disabilities. It asks to provide transportation facilities to such children.
It says every child with disability between the age of 6 and 18 shall have the right and access to free education in a neighbourhood school or in a special school of his or her choice in an appropriate environment.
Respective monitoring mechanisms will be devised for respective districts, an official of the social security department said.