India: A deaf and mute plea for school admission

Miss-Delectable

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050915/asp/bengal/story_5240706.asp

Ten-year-old Dipan Sarkar scored 80 per cent in his Class IV finals; but he has been denied admission to Class V. Dipan’s “fault” is that his hearing and speech are impaired.

Today, the boy had a question for Calcutta High Court: how would he pursue his studies?

Admitting the petition, Justice Asim Banerjee asked the boy’s counsel, Tapas Bhanja, to serve notice on the school authorities to appear in the case, to be heard on September 19. Dipan was in the court today with his mother.

The boy has had a speech-and-hearing impairment since birth, Bhanja told the court. But he had no problems coping with his studies at North 24-Parganas District Primary School, where he studied till Class IV.

“After finishing primary school, he sought admission to a high school, New Barrackpore Colony Boys’ School, near his home in Ashutosh Mukherjee Road, Office Block. But the school turned him down, saying it lacked infrastructure to teach children like him,” the lawyer said.

Section 39 of the Persons with Disabilities Act lays down that an educational institution that receives government aid must set aside three per cent of its seats for disabled children.

But most government-aided schools, such as the one where Dipan sought admission, do not obey this law, Bhanja claimed. “Under the law, these schools can be punished.”

After Dipan was refused admission, his mother Neepa met the state commissioner (disability) at his Ganesh Chandra Avenue office and was told to approach the principal secretary of secondary education, D. Chakraborty.

The principal secretary wrote to New Barrackpore Colony Boys’ School asking the management to admit Dipan. “But the school still wouldn’t,” the lawyer said.

The disappointed mother then met the district magistrate. “The DM told her he would try his best for her,” the lawyer told the court.

“After a few days, the North 24-Parganas Sarba Shiksha Abhijan rang her and asked her to meet the headmaster of the school again. When she went to the school, the headmaster suppressed his identity and told her he was an ordinary employee and knew nothing about admissions.”

No one represented the school in court today.
 
Maybe he should attend a school for the Deaf in the UK or in the US....I think that maybe they should open up admissions for dhh kids from poor/third world countries to attend schools for the deaf here.
 
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