Deaf Today: Teachers to be trained to deal with disabled

January 20, 2004

Teachers to be trained to deal with disabled

From: Times of India, India - Jan 20, 2004

MRIDULA CHUNDURI
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

HYDERABAD : Primary school teachers from government and aided schools in the state will now be trained to provide integrated education for the disabled (IED).

In the IED, teachers of classes one to five will be taught to identify students who require special attention based on the students' performance in classrooms.

The programme aims at making teachers capable of formulating special teaching techniques that help the blind, deaf and dumb, physically and mentally challenged children to grasp lessons better.

This teacher training programme of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is a mandal-level exercise which will start from Tuesday at 24 places in 16 mandals of Hyderabad district.

Here pre-trained district resource persons (DRPs), who were trained at district institute for education and training (DIET), from Jan. 3 to 7, will train 4,800 primary school teachers from 883 schools.

As part of the programme, these primary school teachers will also be trained in activity oriented teaching of the English language, environmental science and mathematics.

The programme has three spells. The first and second spells that start on Jan. 20 and Jan. 27 respectively will cater to Telugu medium schools. The third spell from Feb. 3 to 7 will involve teachers from Urdu medium schools.

Special teaching manuals have been given to the teachers. These manuals provide teaching guidelines for English language, environmental science and mathematics using activities and practical examples.

Emphasis will be lain on spoken English and pronunciation. Environmental science classes will deal with everything, from human body to environment.

"This programme is part of a massive quality improvement drive in primary schools," said Sarva Siksha Abhiyan additional project co-ordinator, B Shailaja. "This programme to train teachers to impart better education to the disabled is the first of its kind in the state," she said.

After the training, all students will be tested and graded. Based on these grades, the teachers will determine the kind of special attention required for each student and will thereby mould their teaching techniques.