HC asks schools to identify students with learning

The Bombay High Court today asked all the schools in Maharashtra to identify students with learning disabilities from the age of eight and ensure that they get proper facilities during the examinations.
The HC, last week, took up a PIL suo moto (on its own) after receiving a letter from the psychologists Dr Harish Shetty and Dr Sanghnaik Meshram highlighting the difficulty faced by students with learning disabilities as they have been denied writers for NIOS examinations.
Hundreds of students with learning disability have been denied writers by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) for their upcoming Class 10 and 12 exams, they said.

According to NIOS, these students do not have the mandatory certificate from the government-authorised learning disability centres.
A division bench, headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah, today also directed NIOS to allow writers for such students if they have the required certificate.
The bench was today informed that there are very few centres which provide the certificate (three in Mumbai and one in Pune).
The court then directed the state government to set up at least one such centre in each district.
The court also directed the education and health departments to undertake awareness programmes to help teachers identify students with learning disabilities.