"Creating Equitable Testing Environments for All Learners"
A lecture on guidelines for conducting written examinations for persons with benchmark disabilities was delivered by Dr. Manish Dhall, Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy, PGIMS, Pt. B.D. Sharma UHS, Rohtak. The lecture was organized by College of Pharmacy to sensitize faculty members, non-teaching and technical staff members about rights and needs of persons with disabilities for written examination on 01 June 2024 at 11:30 am at lecture theater 1 of College of Pharmacy, PGIMS, Rohtak. The lecture was started with a brief introduction of rights of person within the Disabilities Act, 2016 also known as Divyangjan Adhikar Kanoon, 2016 which came in force in India after a long, wait on 30th December, 2016 and was notified in gazette of India on 19th April, 2017.
Source: Alumni Association SDPGIPS
In the RPwD Act, the list of specified disabilities has been expanded from 7 to 21 conditions. The person with benchmark disability is defined as a person with at least 40% of specified disabilities. Various disabilities like physical disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, mental behavior, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities etc. were elaborated in this lecture.
The duty of educational institutes is to provide inclusive education along with non disabled persons. Further special arrangement for writer/ scribe/ lab assistant as per University ordinance 3 clause G was discussed. The certificate showing percentage of disability signed by surgeon/ Medical Supritendent of Government institute along with letter of undertaking for using own scribe was discussed.
Source: Alumni Association SDPGIPS
Provision of reasonable accommodation like special furniture, accessible exam location and academic accommodation like extended time in exams, alternative formats such as computer, laptops, lightning facilities, barrier free access pathway to reach examination hall, environmental control, and medical facilities like first aid and assistive technologies such as screen readers, speech to text softwares and formats like Braille, large printers or e-text were discussed in detail.
Source: Alumni Association SDPGIPS
The lecture concluded by saying that the guidelines are to be scrupulously followed while conducting examinations for people with benchmark disabilities. The compliance of implementing these guidelines are to be submitted timely to the office of Department Of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities [Divyangjan] under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India.
Source: Alumni Association SDPGIPS
At last, worthy Principal of College of Pharmacy, PGIMS, Rohtak Dr. R.K. Goyal thanked Dr. Manish Dhall for giving an informative lecture and further concluded by saying that such lectures should be organized in future also for improvement of academics and sensitization of faculty and technical staff members. He concluded by saying that the person with disability should enjoy the right to equality and live life with dignity and ensure full participation in society.
Article By:- Dr. Manish Dhall
Formatted and Publish By:- Aahana Vij