Starting this year, dyslexic students will be eligible for professional college seats, reserved under the disability quota.
With this, Karnataka will be one among the first two States — the other being Maharashtra which will also implement this inclusive system starting this year — to recognise dyslexia as a disability.
In its order on Monday, the Government has decided that from here on, dyslexic students will come under the category of those suffering from “mental disability” and will be eligible to apply for the three per cent seats earmarked for people with disability in professional colleges across the State.
The order states that this new quota will be enforced from the forthcoming admission season slated to commence in June.
It will be applicable to seats in engineering, medical and dental colleges allotted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority through the Common Entrance Test.
Triumphant
The Government Order, in its preamble, states that this provision has been included following a letter by K.S. Gopalan, president, Malleswaram Dyslexic Association.
A senior official from the Karnataka Examination Authority said the same facilities and statutory provisions extended to persons those suffering from mental disability will be applicable to dyslexics.
Rules
To be eligible for this quota, dyslexic students must get a medical certificate stating the nature of their learning disability from NIMHANS, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore, or produce a certificate by a clinical psychologist (with an M. Phil degree) attested by a government doctor not below the rank of district surgeon.
Further, the rules state that these certificates will again be ratified by the Medical Board.
