City schools tough place for disabled

08.05.2016, New Delhi: Most Delhi schools are not inclusive, and their differently-abled students are deprived of assistive devices or materials even though the Central Board of Secondary Education has issued guidelines on these. Replies to queries under the Right to Information received from the capital's government, government-aided and private schools reveal that most of the institutions have not carried out audits to establish the levels of the prescribed amenities.

Unfortunately, CBSE, having issued three guidelines over the years, too said in a reply to an RTI query that it had no information on access audits, compliance and action taken in case of non-compliance. The education board first issued guidelines on making school disabled-friendly way back in May 2005. It reissued fresh guidelines in October 2008 and then reiterated these in 2009, making it incumbent on schools to comply with measures suggested in the guidelines.

These included provision of support through accessible educational material and the availability of trained teachers, modification of the existing physical infrastructure and teaching methodologies to meet the needs of all children, including those with special needs, ensuring availability of study material for the disabled and talking text books, reading machines and computers with speech software and the induction of an adequate number of sign-language interpreters, transcription services and a loop-induction system for the hearing-impaired students.

TOI has copies of the 160 RTI replies received by petitioner Abha Khetarpal, president of Cross the Hurdles, an NGO that works with people with physical challenges. Only two of the schools claimed to have carried out the mandated access audit. In a majority of the schools, the queries about study materials, teacher training, infrastructure, access audit report and number of students with disabilities evinced "not applicable" as the response. Just five schools said they had visually-impaired students, and there was no data on students with disabilities like locomotor disability.

According Khetarpal, "The annexure in the 2009 guidelines clearly stated the things that schools were to provide in order to make them inclusive, failing which they would lose their affiliation. CBSE now replies that they do not keep a record of such information." The board told Khetarpal that affiliated schools only provide Open Text Based Assessment material in Braille, but this carries only 10% weightage in the final exams and is also meant only for Classes IX and XI. What about 90% of the study material, she asks. How would students with visual impairment cope?

Some private schools refused to divulge the information on the ground that they did not come under the purview of the RTI Act. So, there is no confirmed number on students with disabilities in regular inclusive schools and what they study. Khetarpal says that when asked this, CBSE said it not only didn't have the data, but that it also doesn't monitor compliance of its guidelines.

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.

Battling disability, bravehearts win jobs too

Students of St Louis School for the Deaf with their placement offers.

05.05.2016, CHENNAI: Karthikeyan, a BCA student of St Louis School for the Deaf and the Blind, Adyar has had it tough: His polio-inflicted mother battles a brain tumour, his younger brother is mentally retarded. On Wednesday he saw hope.

Receiving an offer letter to join a private IT firm as a web designer meant that the 20-something youngster was ready to shoulder his family's responsibilities. Karthikeyan and 70 others of the college, who battle various degrees of hearing impairment, received employment letters from six private IT firms as part of the 'We Are Your Voice' initiative. It all started at the beginning of the year with a private firm expressing its CSR interest to Kasim Basith, director of training firm Opportunity Infotech. "Initially I met with failure as most of the companies I met turned down the proposal to interview hearing impaired candidates. Then a few of us floated the We Are Your Voice initiative," he said.

We Are Your Voice, a consortium of HR managers, held an informal meeting of employers and students of the college in February. "By then we had trained BCom and MCom students in Microsoft-based accounts and tallying sofware, and BCA and MCA students in web and graphic designing. The training was carried out with the help of three instructors who knew the sign language. When students demonstrated their skills, the companies were on board," said Kasim. A job fair ensued in April. About 20 firms participated and six made final offers with salaries ranging between 10,000 and 15,000.

Rev Brother Xavier Montfort, principal of the college, said he jumped at the We are Your Voice opportunity. Kalaivani, whose daughter Meyyammai bagged an offer with a Bengaluru-based IT firm, said, "Many parents tend to discontinue studies of their wards battling disabilities. Seeing our children become productive is a boost not just for them but for parents like us," she said.

Restaurant collaborates with All India Federation of the Deaf

Noida, April 25 (IANS): Restaurant The Pirates of Grill collaborated with the All India Federation of the Deaf and hosted a lunch on Monday for the physically impaired at their newly opened outlet here.

Inderjeet Singh Banga, co-founder of The Pirates of Grill, shared that the collaboration was a small gesture to give back to society.

“My restaurant is all about good food for good people. Here, we make sure that our customers are always spoilt for choices with great starters, main course, desserts and more. My idea of hosting this lunch with this federation was to spread happiness with food,” Banga said in a statement.

“These are special blessed people with pure feelings and enjoy the simpler elements of life, like food. My restaurant is destination for people who want to enjoy simpler things in life, good food served with lots of love and care. This is our small gesture to give back to the society and we will ensure to do a lot more in the future,” he added.

Haryana Deaf Cricket won against Tamil Nadu Deaf Cricket

FINAL

Haryana Deaf Cricket vs Tamil Nadu Deaf Cricket

Haryana - 140/7 (20 overs)

Tamil Nadu - 119 allout (18.5 overs)

Haryana Deaf Cricket won against Tamil Nadu Deaf Cricket

.

HARYANA DEAF CRICKET WINNER

TAMIL NADU DEAF CRICKET RUNNER

UPSC CSE Exam 2016 Notification, Civil Services Apply Online (1079 Vacancies)

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has published Examination Notification of Civil Services Examination (CSE), 2016. The Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Exam for recruitment of various Govt Services and Posts for filling up 1079 Vacancies (Approximately) will be held by UPSC on 7th August 2016. Eligible Indian Citizens are required to fill UPSC Online Application Form on or before 27th May 2016.

EXAMINATION NOTICE NO. 08/2016-CSP

Exam Name	Total Vacancies	Age Limit
Civil Services Examination, 2016 (CSE 2016)	1079 Approximately (includes 34 vacancies reserved for P.H. Category)	21 to 32 years on the 01/08/2016 [i.e., he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1984 and not later than 1st August, 1995]

Age Relaxation -> 05 Years for SC / ST, 03 Years for OBC and Deference Services Personnel, 05 Years - if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from the 1st January1980 to the 31st December 1989, 05 Years for Ex-Serviceman and 10 Years for Phyically Handicapped Candidates.

Vacancy Services & Posts: (1) Indian Administrative Service, (2) Indian Foreign Service. (3) Indian Police Service, (4) Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group 'A', (5) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group 'A', (6) Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group 'A', (7) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group 'A', (8) Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group 'A', (9) Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group 'A' (Assistant Works Manager, Administration), (10) Indian Postal Service, Group 'A', (11) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group 'A', (12) Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group 'A', (13) Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group 'A', (14) Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group 'A', (15) Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group 'A', (16) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group 'A', (17) Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group 'A', (18) Indian Trade Service, Group 'A' (Gr. III), (19) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group "A", (2) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group 'B' (Section Officer's Grade), (21) Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group 'B', (22) Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group 'B', (23) Pondicherry Civil Service, Group 'B' and (24) Pondicherry Police Service, Group 'B'.

Minimum Educational Qualifications: The candidate must hold a Degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

Plan of Examination: The Civil Services Examination will consist of two successive stages:-
(1) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination; and
(2) Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts noted above.

Applications are now invited for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination only. The Preliminary exam scheduled to be held on 7th August 2016. Candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination will have to apply online again, in the Detailed Application Form which would be made available to them. The Main Examination is likely to be held in December, 2016.

Application Fee: ₹ 100/- for General and OBC Category Candidates; The fee excepting Female/ SC / ST / PH Candidates. The payment can be made either by remitting the money in any Branch of SBI by Cash, or by using net banking facility of State Bank of India/ State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur/Sate Bank of Hyderabad/State Bank of Mysore/ State Bank of Patiala /State Bank of Travancore or by using Visa/Master Credit/Debit Card. If Candidates admitted to the Main Examination will be required to pay a further fee of ₹ 200/-.

How To Apply: Eligible Candidates are required to Apply Online through UPSC Online Website on or before 27/05/2016 till 11:59 PM.

For Any Clarification -> Contact UPSC's Facilitation Counter near gate 'C' of its campus in person or over Telephone No.  011-23385271/0 11-23381125/ 011-23098543 on working days between 10.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs.

Important Dates:
The Closing date for Online Application -> 27/05/2016 till 11:59 PM
The Last date for paying application fee (Pay by Cash) -> 26/05/2016 up to 23:59 Hours
The Last date for paying application fee (Online Payment Mode) -> 27/05/2016 up to 23:59 Hours
UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination Date -> 07/08/2016
Schedule date for UPSC Civil Services (Main) Exam -> December 2016.

Detailed Notification:

Appendix Notice:

Apply Online:

Vashi GRP cop brings missing Deaf boy home

NAVI MUMBAI: After seven hours of continuous search, a constable attached to Vashi GRP, Dilip Rathod, managed to reunite a nine-year-old hearing and speech impaired boy with his parents in a Koparkhairane village.

Chandan Vinaykumar Srivastav was found loitering on a platform at Sanpada station by two commuters, on April 26. They handed him over to the constable Rathod, who was on duty.

The constable accompanied the minor to search for his house. Although Rathod could not follow the boy's sign language, he followed his leads. Travelling back forth from Vashi, Nerul, Kurla, Vashi gaon and finally, to a village in Koparkhairane by train, bus and auto. Rathod was able to locate his home.

Rathod said, "After several stops, we reached Kurla, and I sought help from a man who could understand the boy. He found out that the boy lived near a bridge. After a few wrong stops, he finally recognized the NMMT bus route to his place," said Rathod.

The boy's father claimed that he had suddenly disappeared on Sunday evening while he was playing with friends in the neighbourhood.

Hearing-impaired call strike

About 250 people sat on a hunger strike outside Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH) in Bandra from 9am on Monday until the institute's director Ashok Sinha agreed to hear certain complaints they had.

The hearing-impaired people claimed that a letter they had written to Sinha on February 17 had elicited no response, which is why they had called the strike. In it, they had listed down their grievances; the most important of these being that the institution hardly ever relayed information in sign language.

"We are not informed about jobs, workshops and new courses," a person in the crowd said with the help of a translator.

The aggrieved people also said that the outdated DTP course was the only one made available to them out of 11 other courses, even as they made other complaints.

In response, Singh said: "I can assure that I shall take these issues up with the executive committee by June 2 and will write a letter about the same by Wednesday.

Deaf Pride of India-Made His own Aircraft – Saji Thomas