A new school code which encourages skill development courses for disabled students has been introduced by the state government for special schools and workshops. The previous code had been operational for over 20 years and has eventually been revised to accommodate finer aspects of holistic and relevant education.
In an official report in 2017, the state government had declared that the Maharashtra school code 1997, will be revised to incorporate principles of inclusive education, emerging curriculum, standards of education for students with disabilities, assisted devices and technology as educational aid.
The revised code, which was recently announced, is focused on empowering the disabled, by making them financially independent through skill-based education. The code will include several individualistic educational programmes, skill development and employment-centric courses. It will also have an early diagnosis and development centre.
As per the directive, it is mandatory for special schools, workshops, training centres and hostels for the disabled to implement the new school code. Currently, a total of 1,525 workshops and special schools are being established for persons with disabilities (PwDs) across the state, of which 852 are aided and 684 unaided.
“Following the Monsoon session in Nagpur, we have released the new school code. The aim was to update the 20-year-old curriculum. Also, with respect to licensing and affiliation, we have made it stricter as institutes will now need to get a positive nod from state authorities as well as a valid national organization. All this have been taken into consideration to make sure that the process is completely transparent. We hope to finish all the staff training and implementation within 6 months and hope to have all the institutes implementing this code by 2019,” said disability commissioner of Maharashtra,Ruchesh Jaivanshi.
In order to ensure that students of various capacities find suitable trades or skill courses, the government is also running specialized teacher training programmes.“We need to have trained teachers to help students with various kinds of disabilities, and so they are being trained for the same. Also, we are organising several industry interaction sessions to open job opportunities for them,” he added.
Some of the skill development courses to be taught under the new code, include screen printing, plumbing, organic farming, photography, yoga and massage training, business courses, personality development course, radio jockey training, music, foreign language, web designing and internet management and marketing.
Note: News shared for public awareness with reference from the information provided at online news portals.
