Mainstreaming Students Mainstream College Admission Cards Presidency College Higher Education Department

Special Schools for Hearing Impaired Students

Special Schools for Hearing Impaired Students

Chennai: The Government took the first step towards mainstreaming students with certain kinds of handicaps here on Monday, when Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna handed over mainstream college admission cards and hearing aids to 28 students.

The hearing impaired students, who had passed their Class 12 examination from special schools for the deaf, will study at Presidency College here, in what Dr. Poongothai said was among the first attempts anywhere to educate students with such handicaps in a mainstream college. “For many of the students higher education would have remained a dream, because there are not many institutions that offer college education to the hearing impaired,” she said.

It was this concern that prompted the Government to experiment with the idea of admitting the deaf to a mainstream college.

The Minister had made the announcement in the State Assembly late last year. Then began the process of ‘fleshing out’ the announcement — issuing the orders, liaison with the Higher Education Department, choosing a college, selecting courses that would benefit the students most and, finally, selecting the students and the teachers.

Monitoring Included

The students will be part of the evening college and will not sit with ‘regular’ students. “Given their needs are slightly different, and since this is the first time we are attempting this, the students will have special educators. We will monitor how it progresses,” she said.

Appointment Orders

As many as 14 students each have been admitted to B.Com and BCA degree courses. Dr. Poongothai also gave away appointment orders to the special educators.

The students thanked the Minister for having given them a chance to learn further.

A few of them, speaking through an interpreter, said they liked the sprawling campus of Presidency. As many as 10 of them stay at the Victoria Hostel nearby.

Special Schools for Hearing Impaired Students

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