The Directorate of Education (DoE) in Delhi is planning to hire special educators, zonal and district supervisors, and develop resource centres, with the aim of ‘inclusive education’.
In an account given by Ajay Kumar Singh, the state coordinator for Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS), Delhi houses around 11,672 students with different needs studying in 952 government-run schools. There are a total of 1,024 sanctioned and notified posts for special educators to cater to the needs of these kids, of which 767 posts are already filled. Among those, 434 are regular teachers and 333 are guest teachers.
“Even though there were not enough special educators, each one of the 952 schools got the services of one, because we shared resources between schools and ensured that all of them got at least partial services, with visiting special educators,” Singh told Hindustan Times.
A panel of 1,344 applications have been received for the remaining 257 vacant posts. The documents of these candidates have already been verified and their merit lists have been prepared at the district level. If all the 1,024 posts are filled, all schools would have at least one special educator.
An additional 1,080 posts have been approved by the administration reform department, and will be forwarded to the financial department for concurrence. Saumya Gupta, the Director of Education, is looking to drive up the ratio of special educators to schools, and hopes to have at least two special educators in every school.
