CBSE issues guidelines for students with special needs; suggested alternatives for assessing students needs

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued guidelines for the education of special needs children. The guidelines are issued in continuation of the circular issued by CBSE suggesting ways to include students who don't have access to digital devices for online learning.

CBSE believes that children with special needs must be going through a lot of emotional problems in a lack of proper social exposure. In such a case, parents of such children are single-handedly taking care of the emotional well-being of their children, which was earlier the responsibility of the schools and social institutions.

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Keeping this in mind, CBSE has asked the schools to go beyond the limits to provide quality education as per the specifics for accessible and adaptable learning, to students with special needs and children whose parents are involved in essential services.

CBSE has suggested assessing each child's individual needs and making relevant adjustments and replacements to print medium including audio, or other formats in instructions, captions, largest prints, pictures, and sign-languages in all the learning materials offered. 

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Besides this, the board also advised flexible scheduling and deadline, simplified homework, formative assessment, and assistive technology.

CBSE has instructed all the affiliated schools to guide and train teachers to teach the children with special needs in remote and online settings. Teachers should also be provided with evidence-based resources for the same.

If expert advice is needed by the parents, then special educators and counselors should always be there for help.

The 'Pragyata' guidelines issued by CBSE, is also recommended to be followed for online learning of children with special needs. 

The board also emphasized on following alternative academic calendars issued by NCERT. The alternative academic calendar has several activities to promote experiential learning among the students, which will be beneficial for students with special needs.

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