Inclusive growth in edn stressed

IGNOU Vice-Chancellor Rajashekaran Pillai for special curriculum in education

He was speaking after inaugurating the 45th anniversary celebrations of All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), held at the Panchavati campus of the Institute here.

“We need to understand the importance of the communication and related disorders. Every school can have teachers who can guide students with communication problems. A special curriculum can be integrated into the existing teaching methods to help students with speech and hearing disorders,” the Vice-Chancellor remarked.

He said communication was the essence of everything. The Millennium Development Goal also emphasises on communication. The education, training, research and extension in communication area should be strengthened to realise the development goal, he said.

There are about 1-2 per cent of the population who are suffering with the speech and hearing disabilities. In terms of numbers, it would constitute lakhs of population. The programme for inclusive growth, Right to Education (RTE) would remain on paper unless there is a definitive approach to address the basic issue. The Government and private institutes, corporates could network with AIISH to work for inclusive growth.

Also, there are credible civil society NGOs or institutes working in the same area. They could also be provided with training and capabilities to serve the society better, he added.

While, Ramananda Shetty, Vice-Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences(RGUHS) commended the role of AIISH in education, training and extension programmes. “It has excellent academic ambience. It is among the best institutions catering to education, research and extension service. There is a lot more research needed in the area to make the 650 million young Indian population an asset to the Country.”

He stressed on the need for employing innovative techniques in teaching in both conventional and distance education.

AIISH’s approach in clinical service, parental counselling, infant screening programme and school and extension programmes has emerged through innovation, he said. 
Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka State Open University K S Rangappa, AIISH Director Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj and others were present.

On the occasion, Pillai launched the new upgraded website of AIISH, developed adhering to the guidelines of Central Government guidelines. The new website in English, Hindi and Kannada provides with online public interaction and a multi-media gallery. A cultural programme followed in the evening.