Delhi University Gifts New Writing Rules for Disabled Students

Delhi University has come up with new writing policy on 9 November 2011 for students with disability leading to hassle free examination season. The University authorities will now take the responsibility of hiring scribes, interpreters, or any other form of assistance to the Disabled students.

The notification on DU's website detailed the kind of provisions for students with different types of disabilities like ‘100 per cent visual disability' and ‘low vision'; orthopaedic, hearing and speech impairments; and cerebral palsy and other brain-related ailments. Students suffering from short term disabilities due to injuries are also included in the new writing guidelines.

DU Notification for the Disabled

Vipin Tiwari, Deputy Dean of Student's Welfare at the university, in-charge of attending to special needs of students with disabilities, said "Previously, physically-challenged students in order to get the benefits due to them like extra time had to run from pillar to post to fulfil all the formalities and get examination assistance. First an application had to be made to the examination centre, which would then forward it to the chief medical officer, who would then issue a certificate, which had to be carried by the student to prove that he was physically challenged".

New Policy

The new policy will approve disability certificate from a government hospital and will provide facility to the disabled that includes scribes, interpreters, extra-time and permission to use laptops or computers with disabled-friendly software. The expenses of the scribe fixed at Rs 250 per day will be borne by the university. Extra time, over and above the prescribed for a paper will be 1/3rd of the duration of examination. The authorities also lay down detailed guidelines on qualifications of the scribes.

Moreover, the new guidelines provided by the university for disabled made it mandatory for colleges to create a bank of scribes with help from University's Equal Opportunity Cell with an objective to assist the visually handicapped students.