Inclusive education takes hit in North Chennai as 39 spl educator posts remain vacant

CHENNAI: In an effort to identify and enroll children with special needs, the School Education department has appointed special educators in Tamil Nadu government and aided schools.

However, through a recent survey by the government, it has been found that there are 39 vacancies for special educators in North Chennai alone.

In total, as per the survey, there are 74 teacher post vacancies in North Chennai.

Of which, 39 vacancies are for special educators, seven for Secondary-Grade Teachers (SGTs), 12 vacancies for Bachelors in Training (BT) and 16 vacancies for Post-Graduate Teachers (PGTs).

While the vacancy numbers are particularly high for special educators in north Chennai, it has raised concerns about inclusion education and identifying children with disability in the region.

The special educators are appointed in government and aided by the education department alongside the Directorate for Welfare of the Differently-Abled.

These educators are responsible for identifying children with disabilities who can pursue education, despite their condition.

Besides this, educators are responsible for guiding and providing assistance for children with disabilities and their parents.

They also ensure that the government incentive reaches the children along with assistive devices and books.

While most children with disabilities are categorised as mild, moderate and severe, the children with mild to moderate conditions are encouraged to attend school.

But, for children with severe disability cases, the educators visit the residence of the children, ensuring the lessons are taught and the assistive devices and stipends reach them on time.

Similarly, with the same motive, the education department in November 2022 also started a campaign to ensure that no child is deprived of quality education regardless of their physical and mental challenges.

However, unfortunately in North Chennai, the chances of bringing the children with any degree of disabilities are thin, considering the high number of vacancies for special educators.

"Due to high vacancies for special educators, there is no doubt that the goal of inclusive education is not achieved in north Chennai. It is high time that the vacancies are filled in the new academic year, "said a special educator working in Tiruvallur.

Also, the educator mentioned that the special educators in TN have not been regularised.

Also, they have been working overload with just Rs 25,000 per month as salary.