Focusing on the welfare of differently abled children the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) held a meeting on Thursday. Officials from Social Welfare Department, Transport Department, Education Department, and Central Board of Secondary Education Department (CBSE) were present during the meet.
During the meeting, it came to light that the teachers appointed for the differently abled children are few in number in the state. When asked about it officials from the education department stated that letter for appointing 47 such teachers in 47 blocks has been given to the state government. Giving strict instructions in this, SCPCR chairperson Usha Negi stated that appointing only 47 teachers in 95 blocks is not enough especially for the children who need special care. She further said that the fund for appointing these teachers comes from the central government which means that the state government needs to be more active for appointing teachers.
The monthly scholarship given to the differently abled children currently is Rs 50 to which Usha Negi stated that the court had ordered that this scholarship amount be raised to Rs 1000. She also pointed out that the construction of hostel which was to be built for such children from four districts has not even started yet though it was supposed to be completed within one year. To this district welfare officer D Ghildiyal stated that a letter has been sent to the state government for increasing the scholarship of these children to Rs 1000 per month. Also 5291 specially abled children are being given the scholarship by the department. On this, Usha Negi said that more children should be included in this for which officials should identify such children.