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Escalating need for special educators to train differently-abled- 27-Aug-2013
Chennai: Of late, scope for special educators has grown by great margin, with parents of diiferently-abled children pushing to put their special children on a track of independency.
'Children with special needs' are children with disabilities. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, 'special education' need to be provided as "Specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability."
Scores of children suffer with some form of "disability" in India and across the globe.
"Disability" encompasses a wide range of impairments, such as, Autism, Deaf-blindness, Deafness, Developmental delay, Visual impairment, including blindness, Hearing impairment, mental retardation, Orthopedic impairment, multiple disabilities and other health impairment, Specific learning disability, Speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury and Emotional disturbance.
According to the UNESCO Report, "Over one billion people – approximately 15 percent of the world’s population – live with some form of disability. Facing a wide range of barriers, including access to information, education, health care and a lack of job opportunities, persons living with disabilities struggle every day to be integrated into society. To empower persons with disabilities is to empower societies as a whole”.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment protects the interests of the disabled in India.
As per 2001 census, over 21 million people in India are suffering from one or the other kind of disability.
Likewise, 16,42,497 presons are diffently-abled out of Tamil Nadu's total population of 62,405,679, according to 2001census. In Tamilnadu, the Department of Rehabilitation is the concerned authority for the welfare of Person with Disability.
With so many children facing 'ability' problem, the scope for 'Special Educators' has grown to great extend within the state and in the country.
Furthermore, scope for 'Special Educators' has gone manifold in countries like US, Canada, Australia and European nations with scanty number of trained 'Special Educators'. But, the cue is to have strong communication skills in English and tremendous amount of patience to work with the differently-abled.
Tamilnadu Government has been specially concerned with the welfare of the Special children. Tamilnadu Government has passed an Order G.O Ms.No.56 Dt: April 24, 2012 which directs that the B.Ed.(Special Education) course awarded by any university be considered as equivalent to B.Ed. (General Education) course for the purpose of employment in Public Services.
The Government of India has established the Rehabilitation Council of India, (RCI), by an act of the Parliament in September,1992 . The RCI has approved 60 different courses for the welfare of the Disabled.
Courses are offered at Postgraduate, Graduate and Diploma levels for facilitating the Visual Impairment,Hearing Impairment and Mental Retardation. Similarly the RCI has recognized hundreds of Institutions throughout the country to give training for teachers in Special Education.
The list of Institutions in Tamilnadu which offer B.Ed. (Special Education) is given below:
1.Ramakrishna Mission Vivekanand University IHRDC Campus, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Perianaickenpalayam Coimbatore – 641020
2 International Human Resource Development Centre for the Disabled-( IHRDC) Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya Post Coimbatore, Tamilnadu – 641020
3 S.B.T.College of Special Education , Dr. M.A. Thangaraj Compound, D.R.O. Colony, Madurai – 625 007
4,Avinashlingam Deemed University, Institute of Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Coimbatore – 641 043,
5.N.K.T National College of Education for Women, 21, Dr. Besant Road, Triplicane, Madras – 600 0055.
6. National Institute for the Visually Handicapped – Regional Centre, 522, Trunk Road, Poonamallee, Chennai – 600056
7.Indira Gandhi College of Special Education (Mary Kanagam Memorial Educational Trust) Holy Cross Campus, Thadagam Road Kanuvai, Coimbatore -641108.
8.C.S.I. College of Education,Pasumalai. Madurai
RCI has approved the following institutions in Tamilnadu to run the Diploma courses( D.Ed. )in Visual Impairment, Hearing Impairment and Mental Retardation
1.Spastic Society of Tamil Nadu, Opp. T.T.T.I., Taramani Road, Chennai – 600 113
2. The Clarke School for the Deaf, “Sadhna”, No.3, 3rd Street, Dr. Radhakrishna Road, Mylapore, Chennai – 600 004
3.Bala Vihar Training School, Halls Road, Kilpauk Garden, Chennai – 600004
4. Govt. Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, K.K. Nagar, Chennai – 600 083
5. Holy Cross College , Department of Rehabilitation Science and Special Education, Tiruchirapalli – 620 002
6.Christian Medical College, (CMC) P.O. Thorapudi, Bagayam, Vellore – 632 002
7. Bala Vidyalaya Institute for Teachers Training , 18, Ist Cross Street, Shastri Nagar, Chennai – 600 020.
8. Vijay Human Services, #4, Lakshmipuram, 3rd Street, Royapettah, Chennai-
9.Rangammal Memorial Teacher Training School For The Hearing Impaired, Sambanthanur Village, Somasipadi Post, Tiruvannamalai Tk. and Dist.Tiruvannamalai - 606 611
10. Mrs. Ann Memorial Training Institute , (A Unit of Ecomwel Orthopaedic Centre), Ecomwel Campus Tharamangalam P.O., Salem Dist-636 502
11. Rawttakuppam, Hemerijckx Rural Centre, Thiruchitrambalam Post, Villupuram District - 605 111
12. National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, East Coast, Muttukadu, Kancheepuram Dist.,– 603014
13,V-Excel Educational Trust.1, Norton street, Mandavali, Chennai-600028
14. Life Help Centre for the Handicapped, 2/546 East Coast Road, Neelangarai, Chennai,
15. Nambikkai Foundation, Palavoor, Tirunelveli Dist. - 627121
Apart from the above Courses offered at these and similar recognized Institutions , various other courses are available to the youngsters of the country for being trained to serve the differently-abled.
List of professional and personnel trained for the rehabilitation of the disabled is as follows:
Audiologist and Speech Therapist, Clinical Psychologists, Hearing Aid and Ear Mould Technicians, Rehabilitation Engineers and Technicians, Special Teachers for Education and Training the handicapped, Vocational Counsellors, Employment Officers and Placement Officers dealing with handicapped, Multipurpose Rehabilitation Therapists, Technicians, Speech Pathologists, Rehabilitation Psychologists, Rehabilitation Social Workers, Rehabilitation Practitioners in Mental Retardation, Orientation and Mobility Specialists, Community Based Rehabilitation Professionals, Rehabilitation Counsellors/Administrators, Prosthetists and Orthotists and Speech Pathologists.
( D.J.Mangalaraj, Former Principal and Director, Puratchi Thalaivar Dr.M.G.R.College of Education )
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