Inclusive edu: Students sing Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu in sign lang

CHENNAI: On account of International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Saturday, government school students across Tamil Nadu, sang the ‘Tamil Thaai Vaazhthu’ in sign language. This gesture by the students was part of the inclusive education campaign that the School Education Department kickstarted on November 14, celebrated as Children’s Day.

For promoting inclusive education under the Individualised Education Plans (IEPs) for children with disabilities, the education department’s long campaign concluded on Saturday. Through this campaign, several awareness programmes were held across government and government-aided schools of Tamil Nadu.

Currently, for the academic year 2022-23, 1.3 lakh differently-abled children have been enrolled in government and aided schools in the State. However, the department planned to bringing in more students, especially from rural and economically weaker backgrounds, in the motive to break the social stigma.

“There are already early intervention centres operating with the help of Samagra Shiksha (SS) with government and government-aided middle schools. These schools have been catering to the needs of differenty-abled students, while also giving them the quality education. Hence, the department decided to include more students, so that government schools become a place of healthy and inclusive education,” said an official with SS, Villupuram district.

The campaign’s objective was to not deprive any student of quality education regardless of their physical and mental challenges. Hence, as part of which, various awareness programmes were held at respective districts to identify differently-abled children, provide them with early intervention and ultimately enroll them in schools.