NCERT frames e-content guidelines for children with disabilities

The Center has filed an affidavit in the apex court seeking the Javed Abidi Foundation’s direction to issue special guidelines to ensure that students with disabilities participate in online classes on an equal basis with others. | Photo credit: iStock/Getty Images

The Center told the Supreme Court that NCERT has come up with guidelines for development of e-content for children with disabilities, which will be applicable in school education. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is also conducting face-to-face education orientation programs for teachers and other stakeholders in some states during 2022-2023, the government said.

The Center filed an affidavit in the apex court seeking the Javed Abidi Foundation’s direction to issue special guidelines to ensure that students with disabilities participate in online classes on an equal basis with others.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan on Tuesday. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, referred to the government’s statement on the issue. Advocate Sanchita Ain, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, referred to the top court’s November 8 order on another issue.

In this decision, the high court had directed the Center to implement mandatory accessibility standards within three months. The bench said the issues in this petition “overlap” with the issues raised in the plea in which the top court made its decision on November 8. “Therefore, it would be appropriate for these two issues to be heard together and evaluated simultaneously,” the delegation said. he said.

He asked the high court registry to list the petition on which the decision was made, as well as the defense filed by the foundation. The Center, in its affidavit filed in the top court, said that the Department for the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has constituted an inter-ministerial body to examine the suggestions submitted by the petitioner and suggest guidelines for inclusive digital education for all. committee in February 2022.

It was stated that in its first meeting held on February 25, 2022, the committee constituted six sub-committees, one each at the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, National Council for Teacher Education, NCERT and Central Board level. Refer to the Council of Secondary Education and Rehabilitation of India for consideration of the recommendations made by the petitioner. The committee recommended these institutions to frame draft guidelines to implement applicable recommendations by focusing on aspects such as accessibility of physical environment, accessibility of content and training of teachers, the affidavit said.

UGC, AICTE and NCTE are regulatory bodies related to universities, including higher education institutions, technical education and teacher training respectively, it said. It was stated that the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is the regulatory body for rehabilitation training under the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

“The guidelines framed by the UGC and AICTE have already been distributed to all universities/institutions,” he said, adding that the guidelines issued by these bodies will be applicable to the respective categories of higher education institutions. “NCERT has laid down guidelines for development of e-content for children with disabilities, which will be applicable in school education,” he said.

The affidavit stated that the NCTE accessibility guidelines were issued for the compliance of the relevant institutions. “Without setting separate guidelines, RCI accepted the UGC guidelines and circulated them to all approved institutions to strictly follow the same guidelines,” he said.