In a significant move towards inclusive education, the Kerala government has decided to set up autism parks in all 14 districts of the state.
The setting up of autism parks is in line with the government’s declared policy on education for all. Education minister C Ravindranath told the Assembly on Monday that the decision is a part of the government’s effort to strengthen public education and to ensure that every child gets educated. The aim of the government is to set up autism parks in all 140 Assembly constituencies, the minister said.
The state education department has been making consistent efforts to strengthen the public education system. The education minister recently visited houses in the coastal region of Thiruvananthapuram to urge parents to admit their children to government schools.
State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) will be entrusted to carry out the work of setting up the autism parks. SCERT director Dr J Prasad told The News Minute, “It’s a dream project of the government to make sure that no category of students is left out from public education. We will have to take up land to set up the parks. We will have consultation with health department doctors on it. Parks will be set up in coordination with the health and social justice departments. SCERT is for children who are above three years.”
The Social Justice department has set up early detection centres to diagnose autism in all districts. The government’s decision will go a long way in helping parents of disabled children. “Social Justice Department is planning to set up autism centres in all six government medical colleges in the state. It will be launched in the current financial year and probably before December this year,” said Manu C Kurian of State Disability Centre.
Talent labs in schools
The education department plans to set up talent labs in all government and aided schools. “The talent labs will be set up to identify the talent in students and to foster them. Socio-cultural clubs will be set up in all Assembly constituencies apart from facilities to assist the children in bringing out their potential. For physical development, swimming pools for students will be set up in all the constituencies,” said Prasad.
For 217 schools having more than 1000 students each, Rs three crore will be given to develop infrastructure and academic facilities. The academic facilities will be developed with the help of the SCERT.
Schools going hi-tech
As many as 45,000 classrooms across the state, from ninth to twelfth standard, of both government and aided schools are being transformed into high-tech classrooms. The government has sanctioned Rs five crore for each school in all the 140 Assembly constituencies in the state. In total, the state is spending Rs 700 crore for the project to introduce technology into classrooms. “A pilot project has been carried out in four constituencies in the state. They are Thaliparambu, Kozhikode North, Puthukkad and Alappuzha and the government is also preparing a master plan for each. An amount of Rs 7000 crore has been set aside for the education sector to be spent in the coming four years and Rs five crore will be spent for each school.