he new academic year might open up better opportunities for students with special needs.
Dyslexic students will now be able to apply to the three per cent seats reserved for students with physical disabilities, if those seats remain vacant after the centralised allotment process.
Till now, the reservation norms included visually-challenged, orthopedically-challenged, and hearing-impaired under the category of persons with disabilities.
The revised notification for admission to the University’s undergraduate programmes for the academic year 2015-16 stated that “the unfilled seats under the PD [persons with disabilities] category shall be converted to grant reservation for children with special needs. The eligibility prescribed for the physically challenged candidates will be applicable to the children with special needs as well”.
“It’s for the first time a university in the State has taken such a step. We want to implement an inclusive system starting this year, where students with special needs get a chance to take up various courses offered by the varsity,” Vice Chancellor Prof. Babu Sebastian told The Hindu on Friday. The new decision will also be applicable for the postgraduate courses of the university. The varsity decision to accommodate students with special needs came after it was found that seats reserved for candidates with physical disabilities were often remaining vacant.
