Some light at end of tunnel

Thiruvananthapuram: The long struggle of various organizations working for disabled and blind or partially sighted students has finally borne fruit with the Kerala University deciding to raise the remuneration of scribes who write exams for them. The university has issued an order raising their pay from Rs 50 to Rs 250 per paper.
But it is just the beginning of a long, drawn out-battle, say those who have been working for improving the special arrangements put in place for assisting such students.

Says Febini M joseph, managing trustee of Koottu, a charitable organization working for the welfare of blind/partially sighted students: “When we began working among blind/partially sighted and disabled students of the Kerala University, we came to know that a major problem faced by them was there were not enough scribes around. We realized that the Rs 50 fixed as remuneration for a scribe was too low and that several of them, mostly students, often find it difficult even to meet their travel costs.”

Thus, Koottu members began meeting university officials and syndicate members and gave representations to them to raise the remunerations of the scribes. The university authorities promised to raise the amount in its budget and an order in this regard was issued recently.

But the hard truth is that though an order has been issued, the scribes have not yet started receiving the promised amount. In fact, the scribes used to find it difficult even to get the Rs 50 fixed for them because of the paperwork involved.

“Most colleges do not regularly submit the bills. Things can be much better if the colleges create a special fund for the scribes, so that they can dip into it and pay the scribes without any delay. The colleges can replenish the fund with the money allotted by the university,” said a person working with Koottu.

Koottu members have also recommended the university to provide slips to the scribes after every exam and provide them lump sum money. “The university must ensure that they get the moneywithout delay,” said the Koottu member.

There is no wonder then scribes are in short supply due to the imperfect incentive mechanism put in place. As only junior students could serve as scribes, most of the disabled and blind/partially sighted students find it difficult to get people to assist them during exam time.Adding to their woes, the university conducts exams of various semesters at one go.

“The exams for various semesters are conducted almost at the same time, making it difficult for the students to find scribes. Hence, we are planning to approach the university authorities with a request to reschedule exams to help the students,” Febini said. The students have also requested the university officials not to conduct exams during vacations and weekends as it is hard to get scribes.