No Training Exam Evaluators For Handicapped

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) Teachers evaluating answer scripts of the handicapped-- physically challenged-- are ''sensitised'' to the task, but no special training is on the cards, Parliament was informed today.

Minister of State for Human Resource Development M A A Fatmi listed in the Lok Sabha steps by the Central Board of Secondary Education to ease norms for such students.

The Board has no plans to give special training to teachers to check answer scripts, but they are ''appropriately sensitised to carry out proper evaluation,'' the Minister said.

In a written reply, Fatmi said blind students-- or visually challenged-- are allowed to use computers or typewriters for writing answers in class X and XII examinations.

The concession has been made to blind candidates appearing from Delhi region, the Minister said.

He said the steps also included exempting the dyslexic, the blind and the victims of speech or hearing defects from having to appear in third language.

By similar reckoning, they are allowed physiotherapy exercises in place of physical and health education courses in classes-X and XII, he said.

Here are some other concessions Fatmi listed: -- Physically challenged students get an extra hour to write their class-X or XII Board examination; -- They answer alternative questions in lieu of ones with visual input in class-X Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Science and English Communicative papers and class-XII History, Geography and Economics papers; -- They may use an amanuensis-- someone to dictate answers to; -- Answer books are evaluated separately; -- Special examination centres are set up for the physically challenged; -- Blind students appearing in Delhi are exempted from paying examination fee; -- Separate question papers in enlarged print for blind candidates-- presumably only partially blind-- are provided in Mathematics and Science paper at class-X level; Byelaws have been put in place requiring Board affiliates to provide such facilities as special ramps, toilets and auditory signals in elevators, Fatmi said.

UNI