The Hindu : Plea to set up rehabilitation centres

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Plea to set up rehabilitation centres

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 24. The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), a statutory body under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been urged to begin a process of dialogue with the Medical Council of India for setting up Rehabilitation Medicine Departments in all medical colleges as apex referral centres.

This was one of the major recommendations of the National Workshop of Rehabilitation Scientists -- an annual workshop organised by the RCI to review and update its courses and programmes on disability -- which concluded here today. The two-day workshop, which was attended by rehabilitation scientists from across the country, was inaugurated by the Secretary in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, B. S. Paswan.

The workshop recommended involvement of regular teachers in the education of children with specific disabilities. "For this, a full time disability specific orientation certificate course of suitable duration for teachers from rural areas may be conducted during vacations,'' participants at the workshop said, "For promoting the inclusive approach, special education component should be included in all teachers training courses.''

For improving quality of special educational intervention, there should be reservation for special teachers in the regular schools at block and district level, the workshop said, pointing out that for encouraging employment of special teachers in rural areas, there should be compulsory internship in those areas as part of the teachers training programmes.

The workshop said that for ensuring sensory development among visually impaired children, an early intervention kit should be developed and the concept of pre-Braille should be introduced for pre-school children. As for expansion of comprehensive rehabilitation services education and training with focus on rural areas, there should be CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation) Act like the PWD Act.

While anganwadi workers should be trained for CBR, the sarpanches, anganwadi and community workers should be trained periodically. All disability related courses and programmes, it was pointed out, should have an information communication technology component.

During the course of the two-day deliberations, rehabilitation scientists from across the country deliberated on a whole range of topics including expansion of comprehensive rehabilitation services, education and training in the country with focus on rural areas; vocational education, training and employment opportunities in organised and unorganised sectors and role of information and communication technology in disability rehabilitation.

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