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SPECIAL NEEDS: Special children need teachers with special skills and sensitivity.

J. JAYAKUMAR

By e-mail

Software testing is any activity aimed at evaluating an attribute or capability of a programme or system and determining whether it meets the required results. Although crucial to software quality and widely deployed by programmers and testers, software testing still remains a skilful art. The purpose of testing can be quality assurance, verification and validation or reliability estimation.

Testing can be used as a generic metric as well. Correctness testing and reliability testing are two major areas of testing. Software testing is a trade-off between budget, time and quality. The role of a software test engineer includes aspects such as test plans, test cases, test executions, bug tracking, defect repairing, manual testing, automated testing and so on.

A certification programme can generally provide focused career training and skill development essential to handling complex software projects. Certified software testers’ programmes further focus on the concepts of essentials testing principles that are required to perform industry standard quality assurance practices. (For more details visit sites like www.softwaretestinghelp.com.)

Since software testing training centres have mushroomed, you should prefer a certification examination for Software Testing that is recognsied globally. Popular and globally recognized certification is provided by International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), International Institute for Software Testing (IIST) etc. The Indian Testing Board (ITB) is responsible for ISTQB certification in India. More details can be had from the website http://india.istqb.org/training.htm. BE/B.Tech. / MCA degree holders, conversant with web based software testing and HTML code testing standards, are eligible to become a software test engineer. After getting the certification, you should understand your skill set and analyse what combination of skills and qualifications you have and then make a list of companies that would want to hire personnel having a skill set similar to yours.

ANU ANDREWS

By e-mail

To become a high school-level special teacher one should study and secure a B.Ed. degree in special education. Special education teachers have to teach and work with students who have a variety of disabilities – mentally challenged, hearing impairment, visual impairment, locomotor and neurological disorders.

The B.Ed. special education course will help them acquire knowledge and develop competence and skills to teach children with special needs. The specialisation areas prescribed for the course are hearing impairment, learning disability, locomotor and neurological disorders, mental retardation and visual impairment. Duration of the B.Ed. special education course is one academic year.

The eligibility for this course is a BA/B.Sc. or an equivalent degree with 45 per cent marks at the graduate level depending on the requirement for the particular course. A great deal of patience and persistence, creativity and flexibility is essential for special education teachers. Physical and mental strength, stamina and energy are also needed. Stress levels are high as teachers in special schools have to work hard to train children with behavioural disorders.

Those who successfully complete B.Ed. special education in visual impairment/ mental retardation / hearing impairment are eligible to secure jobs as special education teachers.

Diploma level courses in Special Education (DSE) in Mental Retardation (MR) / Hearing Impairment (HI), Visual Impairment (VI) is also available for those who have passed Plus Two/equivalent grade. Selection is based on merit in the qualifying examination.

In Kerala more than twenty institutes offer special education courses. Among them are the following:

•AWH College of Education, Kallai, Kozhikode – 673003: B.Ed. Special Education (HI).

•AWH Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Medical College. P.O, Kozhikode – 673008: DSE (MR)

•Central Institute of Mental Retardation, Murinjapalam, Medical College. P.O, Thiruvananthapuram – 695001: DSE- MR

•KVM College of Special Education, Cherthala, Alappuzha – 688524: DSE (MR) B.Ed. Special Education (MR), Diploma in Early Childhood Special Education (MR)

•St. John Baptists College of Special Education, Nedukunnam – 686542: B.Ed. Special Education (MR)

•Bala Vikas Teachers Training Centre, Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram – 695005: DSE (MR)

•CSI Training Centre for Teachers of the Hearing Impaired, P.O Valakom, Kollam – 691332: DSE (HI)

•Kerala Federation of the Blind Training Centre for the Teachers of VH, Kunnukuzhi, Thiruvananthapuram: DSE (VI) primary level.

•Nirmala Sadan Teachers Training College for Special Education, Muvattupuzha: B.Ed. Special Education (MR), DSE (MR)

•Faith India , Puthencruz. P.O, Ernakulam: DSE (MR)

Statewise list of institutions offering special education courses are available on the website: www.rehabcouncil.nic.in.

Admission to M.Ed. Special Education is possible for graduates with B.Ed. Special Education or a B.Ed. with a one-year Diploma in Special Education from a recognised institution in the respective disability area with 50 per cent marks in B.Ed. Special / B.Ed. theory. Duration of the M.Ed. course is one year.

Some of the universities/institutes offering M.Ed. Special Education are the following:

•Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi – 221005

•Avinashilingam (Deemed University) Institute of Home Science & Higher Education for women, Coimbatore – 641843

•Sri Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Education, Coimbatore – 641 020

•SNDT Women’s University, Department of Special Education, Sanata Cruz (W) Mumbai – 400049

•National Institute for Mentally Handicapped , Manovikas Nagar, Secunderabad.

•Department of Special Education, Andhra University, Visakhapatanam.

•Jamia Millia Islamia Institute of Advanced Studies in Education, New Delhi – 110025

•The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is a statutory regulatory body and its approval / recognition is essential for special education and this should be ensured before admission. For more details visit www.rehabcouncil.nic.in. (phone – 91-11-26532384/ 2408/ 4287)

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