Physically challenged students asked to take exam on 4th floor

Parents of eight students with disability have been painstakingly carrying them to the classroom on the fourth floor of Shri Swaminarayan High School in Maninagar for the past three days
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Friday, March 20, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20City&sectid=3&contentid=2009032020090320024506298ad455c40)

Odds, it seems, are heavily stacked against students battling disability. Eight physically impaired students, who are in class XII (commerce), have been taking the board examinations in a classroom which is on the fourth floor of a test centre for the past three days.

Parents of the eight students, some of whom can barely move their legs, painstakingly carry them through the stairway to the classroom in Shri Swaminarayan High School, Maninagar. According to norms set by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), students with disability should be given seats on the ground floor.

When AM contacted officials of the school, they said that there was nothing they could do as the seating arrangement had been decided by the education board. “I have to carry my son to the classroom: it takes me 20 minutes,” Yasin Mohsin — the father of Saiyyed, who is battling with 90 per cent-disability — said. “My son struggles to breathe on reaching the classroom.”

Shivram Patil, the father of Darshan, whose legs and hands have been paralysed, said that he had requested board officials to allot his son another examination centre, but to no avail. “I am 50 years old: it’s not easy for me to climb three flours,” Patil said.Shri Swaminarayan High School is located in a four-storey building.

The first two floors of the building have been reserved as halls, and classrooms have been constructed on the third and fourth floor. However, for the board examinations, only the fourth floor has been kept open. “We conduct classes on the third and fourth floors. The seating arrangement has been made according to the education board’s directive,” the principal of the school, J K Gandhi.

This is not the first time students with disability — who should be least inconvenienced — have faced hassles during the board exams. Last year, AM had reported how physically impaired students were given seats on higher floors in CN Vidyalaya.

When AM contacted the district education officer (DEO), P B Gadhvi, he said there was no rule to provide seats to the physically impaired students on the ground floor. “There is no rule as such. We provide such students seats on the ground floor on humanitarian grounds,” he said. However, an action plan published by the GSHSEB this year clearly states the students with disability should be provided seats on the ground floor.
We conduct classes on the third and fourth floors. The seating arrangement has been made according to the education board’s directive.—J K Gandhi, principal of the school