Skilled special teachers elusive

04.05.2016, Mysuru: Shortage of skilled special teachers has affected education of visually impaired (VI) and hearing impaired (HI) students in Mysuru.

As per 2011 census, the district has 2,623 children below 19 years of age who are visually challenged, and 3,357 hearing impaired children. Mysuru has an exclusive school for blind and deaf, but without adequate number of teachers.

Special Education Teachers' Training Institute (Mysuru) deputy director R Somalatha told TOI that there is poor response to special teacher training courses.

"We offer two courses separately for VI and HI, and each course is of two-year duration. The institute has been offering the courses ever since its inception in 2000," she said, adding: "Initially, there was good response. But over the years, the trainees changed their profession owing to better prospects. Some special children, after completing the course, jumped to normal school to teach there because of their calibre. Some joined government agencies as panchayat development officers and railway employees or landed banking jobs. As a result, special students are suffering without adequate number of teachers."

"The course is a bit expensive (Rs 10,000 per year). During training, students often drop out owing to difficulty in learning Braille and sign language. Currently, we have nearly three dozen students undergoing training here. But we don't know whether they will continue to be in the profession," Somalatha said.

Visually challenged Siddaraju, a music teacher at a government school in Mandya, admitted that there is shortage of special teachers. "This is because those who get teachers' training open private schools or run institutions on their own or join other profession. We have 1-2 special schools in almost all districts in southern part of Karnataka and a good number of institutions in Bengaluru. A private school for blind girls in Mysuru is running well, and so is government-run Helen Keller Blind School," he said.

Blind school teacher Sathish claimed that Helen Keller School has 3 teachers for 41 students.

Special Education Teachers' Training Institute was set up as per guidelines of Rehabilitation Council of India in 2001 in Mysuru. It is the only pioneer institution in the state offering Diploma in Education (DEd) in Visually Impaired (VI) and Hearing Impaired (HI). So far, 421 trainees have graduated form the institute. But only a few of them are in the profession.