'Blind are also eligible to become teachers'
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, September 23 2011:
Manipur government would be utilizing services of blind individuals by directly inducting them in the teaching profession.
In a recently announced teachers recruitment result, four blind individuals were selected as primary teachers for the first time along with 25 physically challenged individuals.
"Blind are also eligible to become the teachers in the general school", says S Jasobanta, President of the Handicapped Development Foundation (HDF).
"They're entitled to become teachers as Persons With Disabilities (PWD) Act 1995" .
The Social Welfare department on December 17, 2004 had issued a notification asking all the state government departments to identify posts for the reservation for PWD.
Jasobanta said a total of 42 seats (3 per cent reservation) were reserved for the physically challenged candidates, including visually impaired.
As a result around 100 physically challenged persons appeared at the recruitment examination for the total vacancy post of 1423 primary school teachers in 2006 and 29 physically challenged candidates including four blind were declared as eligible for the said posts when the result was declared on September 4 last.
"But only 29 physically challenged candidates were declared selected due to lack of competent candidates though 42 seats were reserved in the recruitment process of the primary teachers", the visually impaired foundation president added describing apprehension from certain quarters on the selection as uncalled for and discriminatory.
According to HDF, 56 blind persons are employed as teachers in Assam while one became headmaster of a school in Andhra Pradesh.
Some blind were also employed at Mumbai University.
Presently Manipur has only one blind teacher who was recruited under the die-in-harness scheme in the recent year, and imparting education in a government primary school in Imphal West district.
Depending on their capabilities blind can also teach Mathematics but most them were engaged in teaching Social Science, English etc.
says Konsam Sadananda, another visually impaired young man in his late twenties who is the Secretary of Students' Welfare Association for the Blind.
According to Sadananda, there are more than 260 pre-matric and post-matric blind students in Manipur.