Delhi government schools to have specialised toilets, ramps for children with special needs

Schools run by the Delhi government will have specialised toilets, ramps and railings for Children With Special Needs (CWSN) by end of this year, according to officials of the Directorate of Education (DoE).

"Consequent upon multiple meetings and exhaustive discussions with various stakeholders, various projects pertaining to CWSN have been shortlisted for implementation of 'Vision 2030'. CWSN toilet, ramps and railings in each school will be readied by December end. The sanction to PWD and other modalities will be finalised by next month," a senior DoE official said.

The department also plans to establish 17 additional resource centre for CWSN within the same timeline.

"In order to promote talents of CWSN, we will identify children with disabilities who have special talent at school level and further facilitate promotion of their skills or talent at zonal, district, state and international level," the official added.

Creation of at least one school of excellence (SoE) in each district, teaching foreign language in government schools, connected classrooms, exchange programmes for students and corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding are among the projects shortlisted for DoE's "Vision 2030".

Vision 2030 is a part of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's strategies to uplift public education in the national capital.

To set up schools of excellence -- the English-medium schools of Delhi government -- in each district, the DoE has asked its officials to identify existing school buildings where new rooms can be constructed and prepare a proposal to declare those institutes as schools of excellence by September 15.

"Integrated digital devices will be installed in all classrooms. Primary and nursery classes will get smart and interactive TVs. In some classrooms, laptops will be provided to improve learning. The project is likely to be implemented by the end of this year," the official said.

The government also pans to issue smart cards to all government school students tentatively by September 30.

"The smart card will have multiple uses like entry in school, use of health services, utilisation of library services, etc," the official added.