IIM Indore won’t consider HRD ministry plea to help dyslexic student

The Indian Institute of Management Indore has turned down a human resource development ministry plea to allow a dyslexic student, who failed her first year, to take her exam again on humanitarian grounds.

The Indian Institute of Management Indore has turned down a human resource development ministry plea to allow a dyslexic student, who failed her first year, to take her exam again on humanitarian grounds.

The institute says the girl’s mother was informed of her poor performance during the mid-term tests and she did not ask for special assistance for the annual exam.(Photo: iimidr.ac.in)

The student’s appeal to the ministry said she failed her exams because she was not given the facilities due to a student suffering from dyslexia, a learning disability that hampers the reading ability of a person despite normal intelligence.

The ministry wrote to IIM Indore this month to allow her to write the examination with facilities like a scribe or a writer, calculator and additional time.

“IIM Indore has not provided the required facilities on the ground that she had not asked for them. However, it may be desirable to take a humanitarian view and allow her for re-examination under the prevailing rule,” the ministry said in its communication.

The institute’s director, Rishikesha Krishnan, told HT he had informed the ministry about the decision, but refused to elaborate on the reply. “We have replied to the HRD ministry’s letter but would not like to comment on it,” he said.

But sources said the institute had decided to stick to its original stand that she must repeat the class.

The institute says her mother was informed of her poor performance during the mid-term tests and she did not ask for special assistance for the annual exam.

The girl’s mother says she was never informed of her daughter’s performance and the institute should have provided all assistance even if it was not asked for because she was admitted under a disability quota.

Namrata got admission to the institute’s five-year Integrated Programme of Management (IPM) under the disability quota last year. According to a certificate submitted by her mother, she suffers from dyslexia and attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder.

“My daughter had told me that she was finding it difficult to cope up with her studies but the institute was not providing her with the facilities that a dyslexic student needs,” she told HT over the phone from Mumbai.

The HRD ministry has asked the institute to provide details of all communication between the institute and the mother before it decides on its next course of action.