Mumbai: Special needs kids shine at SSC exam results

At a time when the state board is basking in the glory of its best SSC results in more than two decades theres more than one reason to celebrate Apart from the fact that the states overall success rate stood at a staggering 8772 per cent this year according to statistics released by the board office in Pune of the 6132 students who appeared for the exams under the special needs category 5363 students passed taking the overall pass percentage in this category to 8746 per centSSC results 4 success stories in Mumbai that beat all oddsRepresentational pictureStudents doesnt matter their disability have managed to do well across the state More and more students have been applying for concessions under the many categories of the handicapped section and their results have been improving too said G K Mamane chairman Maharashtra State Board of Secondary amp Higher Secondary Education MSBSHSE He added that encouragement by schools will lead the numbers to increase further and even help more children to do well in their academicsDesire to excelAs per figures shared by the board of the 887 students who appeared for the exams under the blind category 9391 per cent students passed the exams and 321 students of the 373 students who gave the SSC exams under the spastics category passed the exam taking the pass percentage to 8606 per cent Even in the Learning Disability LD category 1187 of 1300 students passed the exam across the state taking the overall pass percentage to 9131 per centWith concessions being made available under seven different categories by the state board more and more students are encouraged to go beyond their handicap added Mamane Over the years many schools have noticed an increase in the number of students with LD and other handicaps beating all odds to do well in their exams At Hansraj Morarji School in Andheri W five students with LD appeared for the SSC exams and all passedWhats commendable is that none were in the pass class they had all scored first class 60 per cent and above marks One of our students who is autistic scored 84 per cent and made us proud said Anjana Prakash principal of the school Similarly at Fr Agnel School in Vashi eight students appeared for the exam in the special students category and all passed with flying coloursWhile schools are celebrating the success of their students performance activists are worried that the number of students appearing for examinations under the handicapped category is very little compared to the overall figure Over 13 lakh students across the state appeared for the SSC examinations this year of which only 6132 were from the special categoryActivistspeakBuilding ramps toilets and handbars inside schools is not making schools disabledfriendly the need of the hour is to empower and train teachers in inclusive education said Dr Mithu Alur founder and chairperson of ADAPT FoundationShe added that while the Centre is announcing studentfriendly education policies the lack of political will is not helping the system With various versions of policies being adapted by different states the implementation is left to the whims of school principals Only once schools are studentfriendly in the true sense will more children be encouraged to take up academics like anybody their age said Dr AlurDid you knowA total of 48583 candidates in Maharashtra and 12100 in Mumbai joined the elite 90per cent club in this years SSC examinations