HEIs need to raise funds through CSR activities to enable better access to disabled students – Times of India

Being a Person with Disability (PwD) in India is associated with various exclusions from society due to a lack of infrastructure, efforts from authorities and general empathy. To remove discrimination faced by disabled students across higher educational institutes (HEIs) by bringing changes to infrastructure, curriculum, teaching-learning processes and other components, University Grants Commission (UGC) has released ‘Accessibility Guidelines and Standards for Higher Education Institutions and Universities’.

The report observes, ‘It must be ensured to remove any barrier that stops, impedes, prevents or causes difficulty for an individual to fully participate in all aspects of higher education’. The guidelines are extremely specific in nature and define needs for PwDs under 18 specified categories, including Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle Cell Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, mental illness, intellectual disability and more.

With regard to the substantial amount of funds required to put the adequate infrastructure in place, the document states, ‘State parties should invest in developing expertise, technology and services in order to promote access to appropriate technology and alternative communication systems to facilitate learning.’

Sharing further, Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, chairman, UGC, says, “All central universities get funding under ‘regular maintenance’, which they can use to create the required facilities. At Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), we have used corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to create facilities. In a similar manner, HEIs need to work more prominently on raising funds through CSR activities.”

Laying emphasis on the need to implement these guidelines as soon as possible, Kumar says, “Once the guidelines are officially issued, UGC will communicate with all state governments to implement these guidelines by providing funds to state funded universities. We will also pursue the matter with deemed-to-be universities and private universities. Even NAAC accreditation guidelines have some weightage for this parameter. Hopefully, with all these efforts, awareness will be created regarding these guidelines and they will be implemented soon.”

Seeking to address the Hearing and Speech Disabilities, the document states, ‘Learners with communication impairments must be provided with the opportunity to express themselves and learn using alternative or augmentative communication. This may include but is not limited to provision of Indian sign language, low- or high-tech communication aids such as tablets with speech output, voice output communication aids (VOCAS) or communication books’.Similarly, for students with visual disability, the document specifies, ‘Provision of braille/large-print question paper or alternate test formats such as audio, use of readers etc’.