Bhubaneswar: The Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) department Thursday said that it has taken steps to ensure that children with special needs are not left behind and have access to all educational benefits.
The department said it has been reaching out to differently-abled students by providing study material through e-platforms since March 2020.
“We have produced audio and video study material which has been uploaded on the department website,” said Ambika Prasad Pattnaik, deputy secretary of SSEPD department.
The video library has two units meant for hearing-impaired students and intellectual disability/autism spectrum disorder/cerebral palsy students. The study materials for Class X students have been uploaded and process is on for the remaining classes. The audio library carries study material for the visually-impaired students of Classes VIII, IX and X.
The e-book library is also in the process of collecting and uploading quality books for the students with special needs.
The online classes have been initiated by the department since July 2020 for all classes of special schools. To continue the educational activities due to closure of the schools on account of Covid-19, an SOP has been issued for reference and guidance of the concerned staffers of special schools. Further, class-wise WhatsApp groups of teachers and students have been advised to collect the feedback of the students and pass the same to the department through district Collectors for quality monitoring and upgraduation.
Besides, online classes for teacher trainees of State Institute of Special Education and Research (SISER) including 37 visually-challenged and other disabilities are also being taken up by the experts of the state institute with the help of Google Meet app.