Be sensitive to visually challenged students: SC to DU

The Supreme Court today refused to interfere with the four-year undergraduate programme introduced by the Delhi University but asked it to be sensitive towards the problems faced by visually challenged students who claimed that they would be put at a disadvantage.
A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Dipak Misra said that it cannot direct the University on how to run the course but asked it to look into the problems faced by the blind students.
"We should not run the country or the University sitting in the court room. We cannot issue mandamus to do this," the bench said while refusing to interfere in the new course.

"We share your agony and the problem faced by you must be looked into by the committee," the bench said.
It was referring to the committee appointed by the Delhi Universty to look into grievances related to the course, which is being introduced from this academic session.
"Whatever your grievances are, you file representation to the committee and we would ask the committee to look into it within a week," it said.

The court was hearing a plea filed by an NGO Sambhavana alleging that visually challenged student would not be able to meet the requirements of the foundation course in the first year of the programme as it contained a bouquet of 11 courses which included mandatory Building Mathematical Ability and Science and Life.

The bench, however, made it clear that visually challenged students should not suffer because of introduction of new syllabus and asked the University to give all facilities to them to compete with other students.
"They must be treated as a special category. Sensitivity must flow. We don't want these people to suffer," the bench said.
The bench said that it would pass a formal order on the petition.
Sambhavana, a registered society working for the welfare of differently abled students, said, "If the four-year undergraduate programme with multiple degrees is introduced in its present form, the student with vision impairment will suffer irreparable loss as they shall not be able to participate in mainstream education system.