Delhi HC sends notice to UGC, DU over education for specially-abled students amid lockdown

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the University Grants Commission and the Delhi University (DU) over a plea seeking adequate measures for visually impaired and specially-abled students amid the Coronavirus lockdown. The plea, which was moved by two law students Prateek Sharma and Diksha Singh, sought to bring cognizance to the plight of specially-abled students saying that while universities, schools, colleges and other educational institutions are engaged in online teachings, no efforts are being made by the bodies to consider the needs of the visually impaired and specially-abled individuals.

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A division bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad issued notices asking the UGC and the DU to file their reply within two weeks. "In view of the fact that the University of Delhi and the University Grants Commission have been permitted to be impeded only today, orders on this writ petition and the applications are deferred," said the bench.

"We may note that the reply affidavits filed by the HRD Ministry and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment do not deal with the issue raised in the present petition, in any manner. The said respondents are directed to file fresh affidavits focusing only on the issue raised in the present petition and not on the previous decisions taken by the Ministry in general for dealing with the educational requirements of university students who are differently-abled," the court said in its order.

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With most educational institutes being shut amid the pandemic, online learning has become the alternate method of teaching for most institutes. Amid this, "no considerations were made for visually impaired and specially-abled individuals (auditory impairment) and their educational needs," the plea stated adding that "the burden of learning is not on the visually impaired and specially-abled individuals, rather it is the duty of the State to provide for effective teachings method."

The petitioners in the plea sought directions to provide adequate steps and undertake measures to facilitate online learning and online examinations and examinations being conducted including mid-semester evaluation and/or continuous evaluation as per the UGC guidelines.

(With ANI Inputs)

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