Samagra Shiksha-Department of School Education, in its endeavor towards providing inclusive educational support through technological interventions to Children with Special Needs (CWSNs); is going to distribute 42 Laptops among Resource Rooms established under Inclusive Education component in Jammu and Kashmir.Pertinently, Resource Rooms have been established in all the districts of J&K under Samagra Shiksha to cater to the educational, mental and health needs of Specially Abled Children. The said Laptops have been provided by EdCil, an Educational Support Group, New Delhi under CSR Fund. EdCil Group also provides Educational Consultancy to MHRD, GoI who after reviewing the efforts being taken for CWSN in the UT, decided to provide this support to Samagra Shiksha, J&K.Principal Secretary, School Education, Dr. Asgar Samoon, revealed that Inclusion is the need of hour and under Right to Education, the Department is making all efforts to include every child into mainstream education system irrespective of any social or economical barrier. He told that in order to promote and strengthen the Inclusive Education, ICT intervention is much required and following it, Samagra Shiksha is going to distribute Laptops which shall be connected to Braille Tactile Readers lying in the Resource Rooms. “This will help the Visually Impaired children to read and explore more learning resources from marine of internet.
Braille Readers which were previously procured under Samagra Shiksha have limitations of storing data but once attached with theses computer machines can scale up its functionality”, he added.Dr. Samoon further informed that Department is planning to set open these Resource Rooms for general public so that any Visually impaired person can visit and utilize this facility for upgrading their knowledge and skills.Later, Dr. Arun Manhas, Project Director Samagra Shiksha apprised that several initiatives have been taken to encourage specially-abled children for pursuing their education in the mainstream system like disbursement of stipends and allowances, distribution of free aids & appliances as well as learning materials, etc. “Every possible effort is being made to identify such children across the UT, especially those who are not enrolled, to provide them all kind of Educational, Therapeutic and Counseling support through Special Educators.Dr. Manhas told that any Special Child or their Parents, Teachers, Guardians can contact at department's Toll Free helpline number- 1800-572-8585 (Virtual Field Support-RAABTA) for any assistance regarding Inclusive Education.He also appreciated the efforts of Dr. Ravinder Jangral, Assistant Coordinator for Inclusive Education for coordinating with EdCil and Department in making the Laptops available even during the Lockdown.