Enlist Steps Taken To Improve Education for Disabled: Bombay HC Asks State Govt

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the state government to file an affidavit providing details of the steps taken to implement its decisions to “strengthen education for disabled persons”, including preparing educational videos with sign language interpreters.

The HC passed the direction while hearing a public interest litigation filed by NGOs National Association for Blind and ‘Anamprem’, raising concerns over problems being faced by students with disabilities amid Covid. The NGOs sought direction to the Centre and the state government to implement the Right to Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar was informed that the state government had decided to reserve time slots for the educational broadcasting provided by Doordarshan and All India Radio. The school education and sports department will facilitate this initiative. These educational programmes, including video clips featuring sign language interpreters, were to be broadcast on DD Sahyadri channel throughout the state in the morning and evening for two hours each. However, the plan didn't materialise due to the dearth of required budget of Rs4 crore, the state said in another affidavit filed in February 2022.

Advocate Uday Warunjikar, appearing for the petitioners, submitted that pursuant to earlier court directive, the state had conducted a survey in over 1,000 schools for special children and submitted a report. The findings highlight that these schools do not have the necessary infrastructure for online teaching, television or radio programmes.

The report also stated that the disadvantage of the telecast on television or radio was that in case the student misses the programme, there is no way in which the student can watch it again. Therefore, it was decided to prepare video clips which would be uploaded on YouTube. However, the state does not have the budget for the same, Warunjikar said.

The court, hence, directed the state to file a fresh affidavit explaining the steps to implement the decision made at the meeting. It also asked the central government to file an affidavit detailing how the decisions taken at the meeting could be implemented.