Delhi: South MCD to set up centres to help children with special needs

The institutions will be equipped with specialists and machines to help with 30 different types of therapies, officials of the civic body’s education department said.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Friday decided to set up four “recourse centres” for addressing the education requirement of children with special needs in its 592 primary schools.

SDMC manages 592 primary schools where around 305,000 children are currently enrolled. (Sunil Ghosh/HT file photo. Representative image)

The institutions will be equipped with specialists and machines to help with 30 different types of therapies, officials of the civic body’s education department said.

Municipal commissioner Gyanesh Bharti mentioned the project in his budget speech on Friday and said the SDMC will set up one centre in each administrative zone managed by the civic body—Najafgarh, West, Central and South zone.

SDMC manages 592 primary schools where around 305,000 children are currently enrolled.

Nitika Sharma, the chairperson of the education committee of SDMC, said that three or four classes and halls in the corporation’s existing schools will be equipped to make these centres operational.

Pradeep Sindhu, the deputy commissioner and education director of SDMC, said, “There are over 30 identified disabilities in children with special needs. We will procure machines for speech therapy, locomotive disabilities, physical therapies and other interventions with the help of CSR initiatives while the recourse centres will be managed by our special educators and counsellors.”

The south corporation currently has 208 special educators and 40 counsellors for its primary schools. Sindhu added that the civic body is also planning to appoint at least one special educator in each primary school by March 2022.

Sindhu explained that the civic body is training teachers to identify students with special requirements.

“Teachers and special educators will jointly identify the children who require help in recourse centres and such students will continue to receive education in their schools while accessing skill upgradation help in the four centres every 10 to 15 days,” he added.