SDRC seeks 3 per cent recservation for disabled in schools

Kolkata, Jan 31 (UNI) Sruti Disability Rights Centre (SDRC) has filed a PIL before the High Court seeking three per cent reservation for students with disabilities in all mainstream educational institutions in the city among other things.

SDRC representative Shampa Sengupta said, '' The Persons with Disabilities Act passed in 1995 advocated that three per cent seats should be reserved for children with disabilities. We want three per cent reservation as per law. We also want all educational institutions should remove architectural barriers to make the institutions disabled friendly. '' ''The PIL will be up for listing tomorrow, '' she said.

SDRC and Child Rights and You (CRY) conducted a survey of 65 schools in Kolkata and found that none of them had a ramp or any infrastructural facility in their buildings to make the institutions disabled friendly.

''The study shows that students with disabilities comprise of only. 16 per cent of government schools, and for private schools it's at .3 per cent, '' she said.

CRY representative Diya Deb said, ''The purpose of the study carried out by the volunteers of Sruti disAbility Rights Centre and Child Rights and You (CRY) underlines the problems faced by the students with disabilities attending mainstream and regular schools.'' ''It reveals how inclusive schools in the city actually are.

This study aims to find out the gap between the policy and the existing situation, which will be used for advocacy purpose, and lobbying with government bodies and school authorities to ensure inclusive education for children with disabilities, '' she said.

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