THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, March 10: The Supreme Court has directed all states and union territories, including Jharkhand, to appoint teachers for special children.
The bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice K. Vinod Chandran issued this directive in the case of Rajneesh Kumar Pandey vs. Union of India.
The court has scheduled the next hearing for July 15.
Children who are partially or fully disabled are referred to as special children. These children require more attention in education compared to other students.
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A petition was filed in the Supreme Court regarding this demand. In 2021, the Supreme Court had directed all states and union territories to sanction separate teaching positions for these special children and appoint teachers accordingly.
In primary schools, the teacher-student ratio for special children is set at 1:10, while in middle schools, it is 1:15.
During the hearing, all states provided the court with data on the number of special children. The Jharkhand government informed the Supreme Court that the state has 45,598 special children.
The court has observed that despite repeated directives, no state has appointed teachers for special children. In view of this, the court has ordered all states and Union Territories to create and notify positions for special education teachers within three weeks.
Additionally, they must publish advertisements for recruitment in two newspapers and on the government’s website, as well as form an appointment committee as per regulations to ensure the recruitment of teachers.
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