Parents of children with disabilities are worried about their wards contracting COVID-19 infection when they appear for exams.
While Class 10 students in mainstream schools were exempted from writing the board exams and declared ‘passed’, children from special schools have not been given that concession.
Despite repeated representation by groups of activists and parents, there has been no reprieve. According to Sathish Kumar, an activist with Disability Rights Alliance, around 1,000 children will be taking the exams, that are scheduled from Monday.
On Thursday, a group of people, including parents of children with special needs, met with the Commissioner for the Welfare of Differently Abled persons. The meeting lasted several hours where the parents voiced their concerns.
Kavithaa, a parent of a child with autism from Coimbatore, said she was concerned that her son could contract the infection. “If it happens it would be difficult to manage him,” she said.
“We requested the officials to stagger the exams, instead of holding them in a week. But we were told that the exam schedule would be easy for students to handle,” a parent said.
The officials explained that the exams could not be cancelled as the assessment for students with special needs was different from that of mainstream school students, one of the attendees said.
Activists are now awaiting the verdict of a petition filed in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the School Education Department, through a circular on Wednesday, has reiterated the need to follow the Standard Operating Procedures to prevent spread of COVID-19 through schools when textbooks, uniforms and dry rations are distributed.
The circular has pointed out that the physical distancing norms were not observed in the government school in Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district while distributing free textbooks. School officials have been cautioned and urged to refrain from being careless.