The Goa government is in the process of finalising a policy for special education and will announce it soon, State Secretary for Education Nila Mohanan said here on Saturday.
Speaking at a function of the disability sector, Ms. Mohanan said that the policy was being vetted by the State Finance Department.
A special scheme under the policy to make government contribution to special education will be announced once it is finalised.
The government is aware that the availability of facilities including resource rooms and trained special educators for schools in the disability sector was not on par with the rising demand in the State, she said. “There is a huge gap between the two”, she added.
Ms. Mohanan urged private and public educational institutions and aided-schools to work towards exploring how more special children can be mainstreamed in the education sector so that institutions are made more inclusive and resources are available for the really needy children.
Separate category
The Goa government has also taken a policy decision that from next year the State Education Department will have a separate category of special educators in the annual list of teachers awarded and felicitated at the annual State-level Teachers’ Day function.
Goa, according to the 2011 Census has nearly 33,000 persons with disabilities. However, president of Disability Rights Association of Goa, Avelino de Sa, says that the number must have gone up following the expanded list of disabilities which increased the number from seven to 21 as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.
