No teachers for children with disabilities in Pune schools
“According to rehabilitation council of India, around 14% children in India are suffering from learning disability. These children go to normal schools but fail to understand the subjects like normal students. The problems faced by these children go unnoticed hampering their growth,” said Dr Uma Kulkarni, CEO of Morris Foundation
Members of Dr Anjali Morris Education & Health Foundation and Sunderji’s Institutions have raised concern over the lack of teachers for children with learning disabilities, autism and intellectual disability.
Dr Uma Kulkarni, CEO of Morris Foundation said, “According to rehabilitation council of India, around 14% children in India are suffering from learning disability. These children go to normal schools but fail to understand the subjects like normal students. The problems faced by these children go unnoticed hampering their growth.”
She added that every child had different needs and teachers in the main stream need to be trained to help these children. “At present we use multi-sensory techniques to teach these children,” she said.
Masarrat Tarawalla, director of Sunderji’s Institutions, too shared similar views. “According to our estimate, India needs over a lakh teachers to train children with learning disabilities, autism and intellectual disability,” she said.
Tarawalla added that understanding this concern, the institutions have decided to start a one-year training course on teaching special children in association with Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth.
The course will be for main stream teachers and will be launched on August 3. Courses will be held at Dr Anjali Morris Education and Health Foundation, Shivajinagar, Ghole road, Pune. The faculty comprises of experts & professionals from the field of education, special education, psychiatry, social work, psychology & medical fraternity.