DRAT OF THE POLICY DEMANDED BY SPECIAL EDUCATORS IN HIMACHAL PRADESDH

SPECIAL EDUCATORS POLICY DRAFT AS PER DEMANDED BY SPECIAL EDUCATORS IN H.P.

PAGE No. 1 to 21
H.S.K.M. ABDUL HAMID AND OTHERS

DRAFTED ON 28-06-2013

The Right to Education Act (amendment ) Bill passed recently in the Rajya Sabha to widen the beneficiary net for children with disabilities is a retrogressive step since it defeats the very purpose of the Act, which is to promote social inclusion in elementary schools. The amendment is in contradiction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the recent Supreme Court judgment (April 2012) on RTE, since it seems to suggest that home-based education may be the best option for children with 'severe disability.' The very notion of what constitutes 'severe disability' is a contested term and the assumption that 'certain children' may be best educated at home rather than schools, defeats the very premise of inclusive education that espouses the belief that every child, including those with differing abilities have an entitlement to study with their peers and not be excluded from mainstream education. As per the state policy declared by Govt. of Himachal Pradesh for Person with Disability , we may observe as below: 6.2.2 Access to Education 1). Inclusive Education for Person with Mild/Moderate Disabilities i) There will be a concerted effort on the part of the Government to improve identification of children with disabilities through regular surveys, their enrollment in appropriate schools and their retention till they successfully complete their education. As per the survey conducted by SSA in the year 2010-11 , 19,242 CWSNs are receiving inclusive education in formal schools in the state. For children with mild and moderate disabilities, emphasis will be on mainstreaming them in schools for normal children. ii) Appropriate strategies will be adopted from time to time to retain CWSNs in schools, in the form of facilities such as free text books, free transport facilities, aids and appliances, learning tools, mobility assistance, conducive learning environment, support services and appropriate training and orientation of the teachers so that the CWSN can complete their schooling. iii) Simultaneously other efforts regarding access of CWSNs to various therapies for their physical rehabilitation, counseling, modified educative 17 material according to their needs / disabilities such as Braille library, Dictaphone for visually impaired children, speech therapy for Hearing impaired children, special desks for children with muscular dystrophy etc. for their inclusion in society shall be made. iv) To handle the CWSNs and manage their needs in an inclusive education set up, teachers will be trained to identify these children and to fulfill their special needs by understanding them. Selected teachers will be provided in-service training in special education through short duration courses recognized by Rehabilitation Council of India followed by refresher courses so that they can provide assistance to elementary teachers to take care of CWSNs in formal schools. Their services shall also be utilized for CWSNs covered under Home Based Education. v) Bridge courses will be introduced for the benefit for Visually and Hearing Impaired children enrolled in normal schools to fill up the gaps arising during mainstreamed education.

vi) The Education Department will devise a system for tracking and monitoring the progress if all the CWSNs enrolled in inclusive education and also to take steps to check the dropout rate of such children. vii) The state government will ensure three percent reservation to the students with disabilities in all the government run or aided education institutions. At higher level of education where only a few seats are available, students with disabilities will be given due weightage in admission keeping in view the objective of providing such reservation to the persons with disabilities. 2). Special Schools for Children with Severe Disabilities i) The state will opt for the strategy of mainstreaming of Children with Special Needs through Special Schools, Inclusive Schools and Home based Education. The State viewpoint is to aid and assist in the functioning of such schools for the CWSNs. ii) It will be the endeavor the State Govt. to set up Special Schools in the vicinity of the other schools or community as far as possible and not in isolation for ensuring integration of the CWSNs in the society. The ultimate aim no doubt is to move towards 100% inclusion. As on date emphasis shall be on improving the existing facilities and the infrastructure. iii) Nine Special Schools / Homes are being run in the state for the children with severe disabilities by the state Government/ NGOs catering to the needs of children with severe disabilities. Special schools would be set up in more Districts on need basis with appropriate teacher-student ratio. The state government will encourage setting up of Special Schools in the NGO sector. Clear normative basis and minimum standards for setting up Special Schools like strength of CWSNs, infrastructure norms, payment norms, RCI registration etc will be prescribed by the State Government. Transparent policy and programmes will be devised for encouraging the NGOs for running Special Schools. iv) Steps would be taken to strengthen and improve the facilities and provide quality education in these special schools. Appropriate environment would be created in all the educational institutions for disabled students. Apart from this the children with severe disabilities will be made part of the Education system through Home Based Education. v) The NGOs running schools/homes for the children with intellectual disabilities will be encouraged through uniform transparent policy based on norms. v) The State will also encourage NGOs to set up Half-Way Homes for the rehabilitation of mentally disabled persons. INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN SSA The key objective of SSA is Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE). Three important aspects of UEE are access, enrolment and retention of all children in 6-14 years of age. This goal of UEE, has further been facilitated by the Constitutional (86thAmendment) Act, making free and compulsory elementary education a Fundamental Right, for all the children in the

age group of 6-14 years. This Amendment has given a new thrust to the education of Children With Special Needs (CWSN), as without their inclusion, the objective of UEE cannot be achieved. In-fact inclusion of one of the groups, which is extremely crucial for UEE, is perhaps that of the CWSN. Hence, education of CWSN is an important component of SSA. Provisions for CWSN under SSA SSA provides upto Rs.1200/- per child for the inclusion of disabled children, as per specific proposal, per year. District plan for children with special needs is formulated within the Rs.1200/- per child norm. The interventions under SSA for inclusive education are identification, functional and formal assessment, appropriate educational placement, preparation of Individualized Educational Plan, provision of aids and appliances, teacher training, resource support, removal of architectural barriers, research, monitoring and evaluation and a special focus on girls with special needs. The guidelines on inclusive education in SSA are given. SSAs Policy on Inclusion SSA ensures that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind, category and degree of disability, is provided meaningful and quality education. Hence, SSA has adopted a zero rejection policy. This means that no child having special needs should be deprived of the right to education and taught in an environment, which is best, suited to his/her learning needs. These include special schools, EGS, AIE or even home-based education. The major thrust of SSA is on inclusion or mainstreaming CWSN into the fabric of formal elementary schooling. Experiences of programmes like DPEP and various research findings have shown that inclusion is best determined by the individual needs of the child. Most children with special needs can be enrolled and retained in regular schools if adequate resource support is provided to them, whereas there are others who might have to be provided some kind of pre-integration programmes, before they can be mainstreamed in a classroom. There might also be still some CWSN with severe profound disabilities, who would require an educational programme and intensive specialized support completely beyond the purview and scope of a formal school in the current situation. Thus, SSA has adopted a more expansive and a broad-based understanding of the concept of inclusion, wherein a multi-option model of educating CWSN is being implemented. The dual objective of embracing this model is to bring more CWSN under the umbrella of SSA and to provide to CWSN appropriate need based skills, be it vocational, functional literacy or simply activities of daily living. Further, an attempt is being made to provide these skills in the most appropriate learning environment.

Efforts so far

The implementation of this multi-option model of inclusion in SSA has been made possible due to the flexibility offered to each State by the programme. Although most SSA States have identified and enrolled CWSN in schools, they differ in the approaches and strategies adopted to achieve the ultimate objective of inclusion. States like A.P., Bihar, Madhya- Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and U.P. have conducted residential bridge courses for CWSN with the main objective of preparing CWSN for schools, thereby endeavouring better quality inclusion for them. Whereas Rajasthan is conducting these bridge courses entirely through NGOs, U.P is conducting them through the resource teachers especially recruited by the District SSA Societies for this purpose. Andhra- Pradesh has adopted a mixed model, with some districts conducting these courses through NGOs and others through the District SSA Societies. Besides this AIE model, 11 States are also covering CWSN through the EGS. So far in SSA, 112033 CWSN are being covered through AIE/EGS in 17 States. Another practice adopted by SSA States (21 States so far) is that of the home-based education for children with severe-profound disabilities with the objective of either preparing CWSN for schools or for life by imparting to them basic living skills. Again States have adopted different ways to provide home-based support to CWSN. States like Himachal-Pradesh and Uttarakhand are using NGOs or Special Educators for this purpose, whereas States like Haryana and Kerala have appointed resource teachers who visit the homes of CWSN to provide them basic functional skills. Still other States like Tamil- Nadu are using special schools as resource centers to provide short-time or parttime help to individual children with special needs and their parents. Parental counseling and vocational training are two important aspects of the entire home-based instruction programme. Through home-based education, SSA has been able to cover 77140 CWSN. A notable feature of this programme has been an increased and a sustainable schoolcommunity linkage by actively involving parents in the educational process of their CWSN. No matter what the educational setting, it is widely accepted that there can be no inclusion of CWSN without adequate resource support. This aspect has been taken care of in SSA mainly through NGOs, inclusive education resource teachers (IERTs), volunteers or by imparting long- term training to regular teachers on inclusion. States like Haryana have opened model inclusive schools in every block and equipped them with all possible facilities (like transport, equipment for physio- therapy, occupational therapy, resource teachers etc.) mainly to provide all kinds of support services, including remedial teaching to CWSN. 22 States have appointed 6678 resource teachers and 687 NGOs are involved in the IE programme in 28 States. An important and unique facet of this involvement is the range of activities that the NGOs have undertaken in the States for IE. These activities vary from planning for inclusion as in West- Bengal, to implementation and monitoring of IE, like in Tamil- Nadu. Other States have engaged NGOs for designing and initiating innovative programmes. These include theme-based camps in Orissa and development of

low-cost/ no- cost simulation park for social inclusion of CWSN in every BRC of Tamil- Nadu to training of Key Resource Persons . Families of CWSN in West- Bengal and preparation of adapted TLM for CWSN in Karnataka. Two additional forms of resource support, complimentary to each other, being provided to CWSN are through assistive devices and barrier free access. Both of these aim enhancement of the functional capacity/ mobility of CWSN to promote their easy access to the schools. 7.11 lakh CWSN (76.44% of the CWSN requiring aids and appliances) under SSA have been provided assistive devices through various modes. Some States like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and U.P. have converged with District Disability Rehabilitation Centers, local Red Cross, Composite Regional Centers, NGOs etc. and some States like Kerala and A.P. have made arrangements to provide the necessary equipment to CWSN through the State Government supported organizations like A.P. Viklaangula Corporative Corporation (APVCC) and Kerala State Electronic Development Corporation (KELTRON). However, the largest provider of aids and appliances to CWSN under SSA is ALIMCO (Artificial Limb Manufacturing Corporation of India), a public sector undertaking functioning under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) with which an agreement has been signed at the national level, as per which 60% of the cost of the assistive devices would be borne by MoSJ&E and 40% by the State SSA Societies. Schools are being made more disabled friendly by incorporating barrier free features in their designs 5.02 lakh schools have been made barrier-free and very focused efforts are being made by all the States to cover more schools in a phased manner. The Outcome These practices and innovations in SSA are no doubt leading to a gradual increased identification of CWSN. From 14.59 lakh CWSN identified in 2003-04, 30.38 lakh have been identified in 2006-07. Similarly, the enrollment of CWSN in 2006-07 has gone up to 19.97 lakh CWSN as compared to 11.71 lakh CWSN in 2003-04. More CWSN are likely to be covered this year through various interventions and strategies. The current coverage of CWSN is 21.86 lakh (71.99%). Besides increasing the physical coverage, the expenditure on inclusive education in SSA has also shown an upward trend. From a mere 26% expenditure in 2003-04, the States have shown an overall expenditure of 65.50% on CWSN inclusion related activities in 2005-06. The Challenges It can be seen from the foregoing that several novel initiatives have been taken up to address the divergent needs of special children. An endeavour has also been made to develop in teachers, the necessary attitude, skills and competencies required to deal effectively with children with various special educational needs. The focus of SSA is now on reaching out to those out of school CWSN, not covered so far and developing a

strategy that will ensure that every child with special needs receives continuing on site support. This perhaps is the biggest challenge of all and a crucial determinant of the success of the inclusive education programme under SSA.

In other words, whether the special teachers involved in these applications have been deprived of their right conferred under Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and whether they should be given the same benefit as given to the regular teachers doing similar type of job in the teaching of the normal students. We find that by virtue of the newly inserted Article 21-A of the Constitution of India, a duty has been cast upon the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine. It further appears that Section 26 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 also imposes an obligation on the Government to provide free education to every child with disability till he attains the age of 18 years, and such duty includes : (a). to ensure that every child with a disability has access to free education in an appropriate environment till he attains the age of eighteen years; (b). to endeavour to promote the integration of students with disabilities in the normal school; (c). to promote setting up of special schools in Government and private sector for those in need of special education, in such a manner that children with disabilities living in any part of the country have access to such schools; (d). to endeavour to equip the special schools for children with disabilities with vocational training facilities The petitioners were appointed by SSA and the annual contract was given with SMCs of the concerned schools where they were appointed. As the SMC is not their appointing authority, this contract must be taken up with State Elementary Education Department. Campaigns like SSA,RMSA may end ,but the Department is a permanent body. It is not the responsibility of the SMCs to arrange the teachers for education of CWSN/disabled students. The integration that RTE demands would entail that the AWP&B of each district reflects all the investments made from different sources for elementary education. Thus the SSA Planning and Monitoring Manual should be amended and capacities of the State, local authority and SMCs built for holistic and convergent planning. At the National level there is a need to move towards a single Project Approval Board for RTE, which incorporates components of SSA, TE, MDM etc., as well as components of other Central and State schemes.But the focus in AWP&B was not paid on the Inclusive Education in HP due to which the grant was not sanctioned. In the case of CWSN, the state may appoint a person with degree/diploma in special education as a resource teacher, who will impart special training to children with special needs. The resource teacher may be posted at the block or cluster level and can operate in an itinerant mode, covering a group of schools where children with special needs are enrolled. The reason for appointing the resource teacher for a

group of schools rather than in every school is because the number of children with special needs in any single school would be quite small, as children with special needs comprise only about 2% of the 6-14 years population, and because there may be several schools in which no children with special needs are enrolled. Moreover, in the near future qualified special needs teachers would not be available. The training can be residential (including home based, depending on the nature and degree of disability and kind of support required) or non residential. The duration of the training can be from three months to two years. After completion of special training, children with special needs will continue regular classes in the age appropriate grade in which they have been enrolled. They will continue to receive special attention even after completion of special training for their succes sful academic and emotional integration in the class. Special schools will have to become inclusive schools (neighbourhood schools). They will continue to function as resource centres for special inputs to regular and resource teachers, for teaching of children with special needs. The nature of this resource support can cover aspects like teacher training, development of appropriate syllabi and textbooks for children with special needs, development of individualized education plans and assessment methods, appropriate TLMs etc. Special schools would simultaneously need to work towards becoming inclusive neighbourhood schools. As per the most recently published (DISE) data, the proportion of children with disabilities enrolled to total enrolment is only 0.84%. The total number of identified children with disabilities to total population of all children in the age group 6-14 at 1.48% is also very low (as per 2001 Census). SSA has provision for collection of data regarding children with disabilities through household surveys, assessment camps etc. There is an urgent need to streamline the process of identification through the above as well as DISE. This must be accompanied by training of the surveyors, enumerators and other government functionaries at different levels. A study by MHRD has revealed that 40% of all out-of-school children are children with special needs. Therefore early identification must be given due importance.

INCLUSION PHILOSOPHY IN H.P AND ROLE OF SPECIAL EDUCATORS.:

Individualization and child-centred programming; Sharing of educational responsibility with the students family; Learning with age-appropriate peers who do not have disabilities; Educational goals that are functional for the life and life direction of the particular student involved The use of teaching methods that are natural and least intrusive; Provision of instruction in multiple environments classroom, other school

environments, the home, the community; Integration of needed supports/services and types of instruction Every student has the right to participate in all aspects of school life; Every student will participate in a regular homeroom with supports to individual needs provided through that classroom modification of regular curriculum will take place outside the regular classroom only if specific skills cannot be accommodated within a regular setting; All students will be placed in an age-appropriate setting, within the students attendance area. Inclusion involves the basic practices of good teaching and good teaching, ultimately, is an accepting relationship between two people possible strategies, including: Contingency contracting (verbal or written agreement between student and teacher that lays out expectations and rewards with regard to a particular activity,assignment, etc.) Providing choices (providing several avenues for a student to accomplish the same goal) Student input into curriculum decisions Shortened or stepped assignments Individualized instruction Alternative methods for response Modification of presentation of abstract concepts Peer tutoring Using proximity, touch, time-outs and non-verbal cues to manage disruptive behaviours Clear and concise expectations Co-education and educating with children without such disability/disabilities. Social interaction is supported and encouraged through the use circles of friends, peer buddies, peer tutors, cross age tutoring, and cooperative learning Curricula is functional that is, it responds to a students individual needs (cultural background, family and community resources and values, aspirations and future goals and opportunities) Systematic instruction using a diverse range of teaching strategies (including prompting strategies and reinforcement), recognizing the presence of multiple intelligences and the utility of heterogeneous grouping, which acts to facilitate peer-mediated and cooperative learning structures Systematic instruction also conveys looking inside the current practices to critically examine instructional strengths and weaknesses and to discover any potential barriers to effective teaching. Generalization of learned skills to settings outside of the classroom environment POLICY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATORS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH The recruitment policies are different in every state for appointing Special Educators. The Special Educators are serving on different policies in every state and no uniformity exists in their honorarium, T.A. and other financial benefits, leave rule and other contract related conditions.

First of all , let us discuss the pay/honorarium and other related financial aspects of Special Educators. COMPARISON OF HONORARIUM Special Educators appointed in Himachal Pradesh and Assam get only Rs. 7500 per month as monthly honorarium but in Assam, they are getting fix TA worth Rs. 500.00 extra per month.In nearby state Punjab, Special Educators are being appointed on the monthly honorarium worth Rs. 10000.00(Ten Thousand) per month with 1000.00(one thousand ) Fix Travelling Allowance making the consolidated monthly honorarium worth Rs. 11000.00(Eleven Thousand) only since 30-05-2010. Further, it may be noted that Delhi Govt. has appointed 52 Special Educators with fix honorarium worth Rs. 15000.00(Fifteen Thousand) per month in year 2013. It may also be noted that Uttar Pradesh Govt. has appointed 238 BRPs in Special Education on a honorarium of Rs. 23500.00(Twenty-three Thousand Five Hundred) only, but Himachal Pradesh has not appointed any such BRP on such an honorarium. Jharakhand has also sanctioned the honorarium of these Special Educators worth Rs. 10000.00 to 13000.00 per month. In Tamilnadu, Special Educators are getting regular scale of Rs. 5200-20200( teaching at level Class V to X) per month with Grade Pay worth Rs. 2800.00 In Chandigarh, Special Educators are getting renumeration worth Rs.16600.00(Sixteen Thousand and Six Hundred) only which is the best possible scale for Special Educators. Even in Haryana , latest recruitment of Special Educators has stated that teachers having diploma in Special Education with graduation will get Rs. 15000.00(Fifteen Thousand) fixed per month. Awesome is the regular pay scale of Primary teachers and regular cadre of Special Educators under selection by Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board which has been mentioned and fixed on 24-10-2011 as 9300-34800+ G.P. 4600 per month. Further we may add the following judgements too:The Delhi High Court while dealing with a PIL has directed the concerned State Government to appoint special teachers in each School to cater to their needs. The Bench stated that every school must have Special Educator and as many regular teachers as needed must be appointed and that such teachers should be appointed on a permanent basis and their salaries must be at par with the regular teachers. This High Court may also kindly be pleased to direct the respondents to place the special teachers of disabled students at par with all other regular teachers under the State Government and in the Grant-in-Aid School in the interest of justice. The Special Educators are eligible for the post of JBT as per the notification of NCTE dated 23-08-2010. It shows that they are working equivalent to JBTs while their task is more challenging in nature.But the state has paid them emoluments of Rs.7500/month, however, they deserve the Equal/equivalent salary of new appointed JBTs in Himachal Pradesh. The neighbor state Punjab is Paying almost Rs.10000 to the IED Resource Teachers. Many cases are available for reference where the scale of Regular working Primary teachers has been given to Educators of Disabled Students. Some judgements quotable are as below:Harpreet Kaur And Others vs State Of Punjab And Others on 2 March, 2013 Punjab-Haryana High Court

Punjab-Haryana High Court Harpreet Kaur And Others vs State Of Punjab And Others on 2 March, 2013 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 4606 of 2013 Date of Decision : 2.3.2013 Harpreet Kaur and others ..... Petitioner(s) Versus State of Punjab and others ..... Respondent(s) CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present:- Mr. L.S. Virk, Advocate, for the petitioners. AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) Petitioners have approached this Court with a grievance that they are similarly placed as the other Teachers, who have been appointed in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan except that they have been appointed in Inclusive Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) Component. All other teachers appointed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, as per the policy decision of the government of Punjab, have under instructions dated 13.9.2012 (Annexure-P- 6) been granted the minimum pay scale. The said benefit has been denied to the petitioners. Claiming the same benefit, as the other teachers, some of the petitioners have submitted a representation dated 21.9.2012 (Annexure-P-13) to the respondents but till date, no decision thereon has been taken by the respondents, nor any benefit has been granted to them. Counsel contends that the petitioners, at this stage, would be satisfied if a direction is issued to the Director General School Education, Punjab-respondent No. 2 to consider and decide the representation of the petitioners within some specified time.CWP No. 4606 of 2013 -2- In the light of the statement made by the counsel for the petitioners, present writ petition is disposed of with directions to the Director General School Education, Punjab-respondent No. 2 to consider and decide the representation of the petitioners dated 21.9.2012 (Annexure-P13) within a period of four months from the date of receipt of certified copy of the order. The decision, so taken, be conveyed to the petitioners forthwith. (AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH) JUDGE 2.3.2013

Further, it may be noted that Rule 20 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010 reads as under:-2. Salary and allowances and conditions of service of teachers.-

(1). The Central Government or the appropriate Government or the local authority, as the case may be, shall notify terms and conditions of service and salary and allowances of teachers of schools owned and managed by them in order to create a professional and permanent cadre of teachers. (2). In particular and without prejudice to sub-rule (1), the terms and conditions of service shall take into account the following, namely:(a). accountability of teachers to the School Management Committee; (b). Provisions enabling long-term stake of teachers in the teaching profession. (3). The scales of pay and allowances, medical facilities, pension, gratuity, provident fund, and other prescribed benefits of teachers shall be at par for similar qualification, work and experience.

Chapter V, Section 26 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1955 casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and the local authorities to ensure that every child with a disability gets access to free education in an appropriate environment till he attains the age of 18 years. Section 26 of the said Act, inter alia further provides that the Appropriate Government and Local Authorities shall endevaour to promote the integration of students with Disabilities in the normal schools, promote setting up of special schools in Government and Private Sector for those in need of special education in such a manner that the children with disabilities living in any part of the country have access to such schools and that they shall endeavour to equip special schools for children with disabilities with vocational training facilities. Section 29 of the Act mandates that the appropriate Government shall set up adequate number of Teachers Training Institutions to develop trained manpower for schools for children with disabilities. Thus, the obligation of the State to provide free and compulsory education for the normal children is from age 6 to 14 years, whereas the obligation of the State with regard to disabled children is for the age up to 18 years which would include not only elementary education but also secondary and higher secondary education as well. Therefore, the State cannot escape from its obligation to engage sufficient number of teachers to provide special education to disabled children and to pay the salaries and allowances and all other benefits to them at par with other general teachers teaching the normal children in primary schools, secondary schools and higher secondary schools in the State. It is pertinent that even when the aforesaid constitutional and statutory provisions were not enacted, the IEDC Scheme (as revised in 1987), inter alia, provided that the scheme shall be financed 100% by the Central Government on condition of creating technically qualified staff as per the scheme, the scheme shall be implemented through the State Government, the Education Department would be the implementing agency, the appointment of special teachers shall be made in the Teacher-Pupil ratio of 1:8, and the teachers shall be possessing qualification in special education as stated therein and with regard to the scale of pay. It was clearly stated that same scale of pay as available to the teachers of the corresponding category in that State/U.T will be given to special teachers. It is all the more shocking and surprising that prior to IEDSS Scheme came to be introduced on 1st April 2009, the said special teachers of disabled students in Gujarat were being paid pay scale of primary teachers of Rs.4000-6000 as per the 5th Pay Commission and some other allowances w.e.f. 1st January 1996, but after the IEDSS Scheme came into force w.e.f.

1st April 2009, the said special teachers are engaged on contractual basis and on fixed salary as under: For the year 2009-10 Rs.17,000 + 400 For the year 2010-11 Rs.19,000 + 400 For the year 2011-12 Rs.22,000 + 400 For the year 2012-13 Rs.22,000 + 400

This is also a matter of high attention that the state has not created permanent posts of the Teachers for teaching the Children with Special Needs/Disabled Students at its own level. At present, almost 26370 CWSN are there in the state and they have got no Special Education. The Pupil Teacher Ratio under RTE is 1:30 means one teacher for 30 normal students. But for CWSN/disabled students, it is considered as 1:15 or below. Concluding to this, state needs al least 1000 -1500 posts of teachers capable of teaching these students. The educational campaigns like Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan are not the key to escape from the responsibility of establishing any permanent system and cadre of Special Educators for the education of CWSN/disabled students. The permanent appointments for elementary education of CWSN/disabled students is the responsibility of the state govt. under RTE and if state is not capable of funding, it may ask for it from Centre Govt. for assistance under RTE provisions. The RTE Act is categorical that the Central Government and the State Governments have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of this Act. The sharing of financial responsibilities enunciated in Section 7 of the RTE Act are: (i) The Central Government and the State Government shall have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of this Act. The Central Government shall prepare the estimates of capital and recurring expenditure for the implementation of the provisions of the Act.

(ii)

(iii) The Central Government shall provide to the State Government, as grants-in-aid of revenues, such percentage of expenditure referred to in sub-section (2) as it may determine, from time to time, in consultation with the State Governments. (iv) The Central Government may make a request to the President to make a reference to the Finance Commission under sub-clause (d) of clause (3) of article 280 to examine the need for additional resources to be provided to any State Government so that the said State Government may provided its share of funds for carrying out the provisions of the Act. Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (4), the State Government shall, taking into consideration the sums provided by the Central Government to a State Government under

(v)

sub-section (3) and its other resources, be responsible to provide funds for it. (vi) Implementation of the provisions of the Act.

The implementation of the said RTE provisions is the sole responsibility of the state govt. It can used Red Cross Fund, various funds from other sources for education of the CWSN/disabled students. So the education of the CWSN/disabled students in HP must be reinstated soon by re-engaging the Special Educators on permanent basis as per the above discussion. Their scale and policy must be same as that of JBTs. So far as the special teachers of disabled children imparting education to disabled
children in primary school are concerned, according to the respondents, they are covered under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan [SSA]. The said special teachers for disabled children of primary schools are also entitled to be treated at par with the primary school teachers of the normal children in the State in the matter of pay and pay scale and allowances and all other benefits. However, the respondent-State authorities are giving highly arbitrary and discriminatory treatment to the said special teachers by engaging them on contract basis and by paying them a fixed salary of Rs.7500 per month in HP. By covering or considering the special teachers for disabled children in primary schools in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the respondents State authorities cannot escape their constitutional and statutory obligations towards the disabled children and towards their special teachers. Thus, the employment under IEDC scheme was treated as an employment under the State Government and not under private NGOs. Therefore, the State Government cannot give discriminatory treatment in the matter of regular pay and pay scales and allowances and all other benefits to the special teachers of disabled children. The respondent-State authorities are contending that the special teachers for disabled children are engaged in the project or scheme and therefore, they cannot be treated at par with the teachers of normal children. But such escape of State from its responsibility may not be considered please. they are not given the following benefits which are given to the teachers of Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools: (i). Pay and Pay scale of JBT as per 5 th Pay Commission in HP (ii). Direct payment of salary (DPS) in Bank accounts per month with sms alert system. (iii) Higher Grade Pay scale and JBT equivalent pay

Scale as per verdict by Punjab and Haryana High Court. (iv). Pension Scheme to be decided and all Special Educators to be given its benefits (v) C.P.F. Scheme to be maintained for Special Educators (vi)Maternity Leave for Female employee as per amended Rules,2012. (vii) Privilege Leave if possible (viii)Sick leave/ Medical Leave of Ten Days as per the latest notification by Personnel Department. (ix)Seniority and continuity of service in the event of change of institution (x) Compensation to family members in case of death of Special Educators through insurance/GIS.` (xi) Protection of service condition and redressal forum for the disputes arising therefore, viz. Tribunal. (xii) Group Insurance, etc. Regarding the mode of appointment also, according to the scheme framed by the Central Government, the special teachers should be appointed by regular mode of appointment that will be fixed by the State Government. Regarding the mode of appointment, there is no dispute about the fact that appointment of the teachers concerned were made with full approval of the State Government. We have also pointed out that there is also no dispute

that all these teachers have the requisite qualifications fixed under the scheme. Merely because in the guidelines issued by the Central Government, the State Government was given liberty to take assistance of the experienced NGOs in the field for the purpose of selecting the teachers, such fact does not mean that the teachers can be appointed by the NGOs without adhering to the qualification according to their own choice. The process of selection must be under direct supervision of the State Government. Moreover, taking assistance of the experienced NGOs in the field is not even mandatory for the State Government. Therefore, the plea of the State Government that there is no relationship of employer and employee between the State and the special teachers and that the teachers are the contractual employees of the NGOs is not tenable. These are not the cases of appointment based on no process of selection as envisaged by the Rules as pointed out in the case of the State of Karnataka vs. Umadevi and others (supra). Such being the position, in our opinion, there is no justification of depriving these teachers, who are having slightly higher qualification than those appointed for teaching the ordinary students, of the benefits of the direct payment of salary, pension, GPF, maternity leave for female teachers, privilege leave, sick leave, seniority and continuity of service in the event of change of institution, bonus, compassionate appointment or monetary benefit in lieu thereof in the event of untimely death, protection of service conditions and redressal forum for disputes arising there from, L.T.C. and Group Insurance, which are available to the other teachers. We are unable to accept the contention of the State Government and the Central Government that the duties performed by these special teachers are lighter than those of other teachers who teach ordinary children. It is the Central Government itself which has prescribed the qualifications of the teachers which is higher than those who teach the ordinary students, inasmuch as, in addition to their educational qualifications, they are also required to have special qualification for teaching the disabled students. By depriving the special teachers of the regular benefits that are given to the other teachers, in our opinion, the State Government has violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. From the nature of the duty performed by these teachers, we find that their duty is more onerous than that of the ordinary teachers and they are also required to visit more than one school for the purpose of performing their duty. From the materials placed before us, we find that number of disabled students which was in existence earlier, has increased a lot and may go on increasing. We, therefore, find that after framing a scheme fixing the educational qualifications and other qualifications, the scales of pay, special teachers ratio, mode of recruitment and also the nature of duties to be performed by them, there is no justification of depriving the petitioners of their benefits other than the regular scale of pay which are enjoyed by the ordinary teachers by describing the job as a temporary one. It is not the case

of the State that the number of disabled students are on the decrease; on the other hand, figures for the last ten years suggest that the number has gradually increased and in view of enactment of the right of the disabled students in the Constitution and after enactment of specific laws on the field, there is no scope of withholding of the scheme in question in future.

IN BRIEF: SPECIAL EDUCATORS NEED J.B.T. PAY SCALE WITH REGULARISATION BENEFITS ACCORDING TO THE CONCLUSIONS LAID DOWN BY HP HIGH COURT IN BALDEV SINGH VERSUS STATE OF H.P C.W.P. 415 of 2000 CASE DECIDED ON 05-08- 2008. The benefits of the direct payment of salary, pension, GPF, maternity leave for
female teachers, privilege leave, sick leave, seniority and continuity of service in the event of change of institution, bonus, compassionate appointment or monetary benefit in lieu thereof in the event of untimely death, protection of service conditions and redressal forum for disputes arising there from, L.T.C. and Group Insurance, which are available to the other teachers. Honorarium must be given on Chandigarh/Haryana/Punjab pattern and must be revised soon. Contract must be done only with Education Department/SSA and SMC must be given only supervision powers. lack of budget is not any excuse in respect of making permanent system and cadre of education for CWSN/Disable students because its budget is less than one percent in compare to that of total budget. Many grants are lying unspent in Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and State SSA has recovered many crores of Rupees which were lying unspent in schools from 2002-2012. This amount is available in SSA and the excuse of non-availability of budget is a clear lie in this context.The SSA and State Govt. is not obeying the rules and guidelines of RTE. Thus, this fund may be used for funding the salary of Special Educators unless the other financial arrangements are done by t he state govt. After availability of the funds which have been collected in crores from every distt. In March,2013- SSA and state can change its head to bu used in in clusive education with consent on MHRD. Transfer Policy must be framed and distt. Cadre must be fixed for these Special Educators like that applicable to JBTs. Service Books of Special Educators must be prepared and maintained properly at DDO level. The regularization shall be subject to orders regarding reservation in the service for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/Other categories of persons issued by the Himachal Pradesh Govt. from time to time. The contractual appointee so regularized shall, be liable to be posted anywhere within the State. The contractual appointees who are to be regularized shall be put in at the minimum of the time scale of the post. For the determination of date of birth of the candidate concerned criterion as laid down in Rule 7.1 of the H.P. Financial Rules Vol.-I Hand-Book No. 2 shall be observed. The regularization shall be subject to verification of character and antecedents of the candidate being considered for regularization as provided in the H.P. Financial Rules. The candidate should be medically fit for the post being considered for regularization. The Medical fitness certificate of the candidate shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions contained in FR 10 and SR 4 (1), 4 (2) and 4 (3). The regularization will be strictly on the basis of seniority subject to fitness and the fulfilment of eligibility conditions prescribed in the concerned Recruitment and Promotion Rules

 REGULARISATION POLICY TO BE FRAMED In Chandigarh, SSA teachers regularization was approved by MHRD after rendering six years of service. The decision was taken during the committees meeting chaired by UT
Finance-cum-Education Secretary, VK Singh, on August 26. We have considered the regularisation of all the SSA teachers. A proposal for the process will be prepared shortly by the SSA society and it will then be sent across to the competent authorities for action, said Director Public Instructions (Schools), Sandeep Hans, who is also the State Project Director for SSA.

There are no technical glitches in the regularization of SSA teachers as they are all appointed in accordance with the norms of the education department. They are also exempt from CTET as per the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009 and NCTE Amendment Act, 2011.Same type of policy may be implemented for Special Educators in HP. Gujarat High Court Gujarat High Court Suo Muto C/SCA/33/2005 vs Chief Secretary ,Govt. of Gujarat and others on 22 March, 2013 Bench: Mr.Bhaskar Bhattacharya J.B.Pardiwala, J.B.Pardiwala SUO MUTO....Petition er(s)V/STHE CHIEF SECRETARY must be made as directive principle in this policy. Under this policy the Special Educators in the Department of Elementary Education H.P. will be engaged on contract basis initially for one year, which may be extendable on year to year basis. Provided that for extension/renewal of contract period on year to year basis the concerned HOD

shall issue a
(a) certificate that the service and conduct of the contract appointee is satisfactory during the year and only then his period of contract is to be renewed/extended. The services of the Contract Appointee will be purely on temporary basis. The appointment is liable to be terminated in case the performance/ conduct of the contract appointee is not found satisfactory. (b) Contract appointee will be entitled for one day casual leave after putting one month service. This leave can be accumulated up to one year. No leave of any other kind is admissible to the contract appointee. He /She shall not be entitled for Medical re-imbursement and L.T.C etc. Only maternity leave

will be given as per Rules. (c) Unauthorized absence from the duty without the approval of the Controlling Officer shall automatically lead to the termination of the contract. Contract appointee shall not be entitled for contractual amount for the period of absence from duty. (d) An official appointed on contract basis who have completed five years tenure at one place of posting will be eligible for transfer on need based basis wherever required on administrative grounds. Selected candidate will have to submit a certificate of his/ her fitness from a Government / Registered Medical Practitioner. Woman candidate pregnant beyond twelve weeks will stand temporarily unfit till the confinement is over. The woman candidate will be re-examined for the fitness from an authorized Medical Officer/ Practitioner. (g) Contract appointee will be entitled to TA/DA if required to go on tour in connection with his /her official duties at the same rate as applicable to regular officials at the minimum of the pay scale. Provisions of service rules FR SR, Leave Rules, GPF Rules, Pension Rules and Conduct Rules etc. as are applicable in case of regular employees will not be applicable in case of Contract Appointees. They will be entitled for emoluments etc.
From of contract/ agreement to be executed between the Special Educator (Name of the post) and the Government of Himachal Pradesh through Deputy Director of Elementary Education of concerned District (Designation of the Appointing Authority).

This agreement is made on this ____________ in the

day of

year _________________ between

Sh./Smt. _______________________________ S/O Shri _____________________ R/O __________________________________________ Contr-act appointee (hereinafter called the FIRST PARTY), AND The Governor of Himachal Pradesh through Deputy Director of Elementary Education (Designation of the Appointing Authority) Himachal Pradesh( here-in-after the SECOND PARTY). Whereas , the SECOND PARTY has engaged the aforesaid FIRST PARTY and the FIRST PARTY has agreed to serve as a Junior Basic Trained Teacher (Name of the post) on contract basis on the following terms & conditions:1. That the FIRST PARTY shall remain in the service of the SECOND PARTY as a Junior Basic Trained Teacher ( Name of the post) for a period of one year commencing on day of _______________ and ending on the day of ________ . It is specifically mentioned and agreed upon by both the

parties that the contract of the FIRST PARTY with SECOND PARTY shall i p s o facto stand terminated on the last working day i.e on A n d information notice shall not be necessary. Provided that for further extension/renewal of contract period the HOD shall issue a certificate that the service and conduct of the contract appointee was satisfactory during the year and only then the period of contract is to be renewed/extended. 2. 3. The contractual amount of the FIRST PARTY will be Rs per month. The service of FIRST PARTY will be purely on temporary basis. The appointment is liable to be terminated in case the performance/ conduct of the contract appointee is not found good or if a regular incumbent is appointed/ posted against the vacancy for which the first party was engaged on contract. Contractual Special Educator (Name of the post) will be entitled for one day casual leave after putting in one month service. This leave can be accumulated up to one year. No leave of any other kind is admissible to the contractual Special Educator (Name of the post). He will not be entitled for Medical re-imbursement and L.T.C etc. Only maternity leave will be given as per Rules. Unauthorized absence from the duty without the approval of the ControllingOfficer shall automatically lead to the termination of the contract. A contractual Special Educator ( Name of the post) will not be entitle for contractual amount for the period of absence from duty. -2/-

4.

5.

6.

Transfer of an official appointed on contract basis will be permitted after completion of 5 years tenure at one place of posting on need based basis wherever required on administrative grounds. Selected candidate will have to submit a certificate of his/her fitness from a Government/ Registered Medical Practitioner. In case of Woman candidate pregnancy beyond twelve weeks will render her temporarily unfit till the confinement is over. The woman candidate should be re-examined for the fitness from an authorized Medical Officer/ Practitioner. Contract appointee will be entitled to TA/DA if required to go on tour in connection with his /her official duties at the same rate as applicable to regular officials. The Employees Group Insurance Scheme as well as EPF/GPF will not be applicable to contractual appointee(s). IN WITNESS the FIRST PARTY AND SECOND PARTY have herein to set their hands the day, month and year first, above written.
IN THE PRESENCE OF WITNESS:

7.

8.

9.

1.

(Name and full Address) (Signature of the FIRST PARTY)

2.
(Name and full Address) IN THE PRESENCE OF WITNESS:

1.

(Name and full Address) (Signature of the FIRST PARTY)

2.
(Name and full Address)