Delhi: Admission relief for hearing impaired child is short-lived

07.01.2019
A spokesperson of Shri Hazari Lal Public School told The Indian Express that while they do have a special educator, they are not equipped to cater to the needs of a 100% hearing impaired child.

A six-year-old boy was among the few applicants to the recently concluded draw of lots for seats reserved for differently abled children in the city’s private schools. However, the family of the child, who is 100% hearing impaired, has discovered that the school allotted to him was not equipped to cater to his needs, leaving the boy with no choice but to forfeit the admission.
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The boy’s father, who works as a domestic help in Pitampura, found out about the draw of lots on December 26, 2018, from an advocate, who had earlier filed a petition in the High Court about the boy’s inability to get admission in any school.

According to a fresh petition, no schools were available in the 0-1 km and 1-3 km radius of their home in Badli, so the family applied to three schools in the 3-6 km radius. After a draw of lots, the family was informed the child had been allotted the school of their second preference, located in Khera Khurd.

“My wife visited the school and found it wasn’t suitable at all. It was far from our home, and he wouldn’t have been able to learn anything there. There was nothing to help a child like him learn. We didn’t know what to do, so we did not go ahead with taking the seat,” said the boy’s father.

A spokesperson of Shri Hazari Lal Public School told The Indian Express that while they do have a special educator, they are not equipped to cater to the needs of a 100% hearing impaired child.

When contacted, Director of Education Sanjay Goel said: “One of the conditions for recognition of schools is that they have a special educator. As for other facilities, they can only happen slowly. This is a starting point, where special educators can teach children slowly, and with more such children coming in over time, they will build facilities. Enforcement has been weak in the past and schools have constraints. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

As earlier reported by The Indian Express, one of the reasons for enough applications not being received under the quota for children with special needs is that schools in the city lack infrastructure and learning equipment for differently abled children.