Education, Careers & Professional News
Special Education
I am a graduate keen on working in the field of Special Education. Could you please tell about the institutions offering courses in this field
Surprisingly, nearly a quarter of the world’s disabled live in India.
Unfortunately, lack of education and awareness has become the biggest obstacle in enabling the disabled to lead a normal life.
There are a staggering 30 million children with disabilities between 6-14 years, while there is a huge shortfall of special educators. Their number stands at just a little over 20,000.
Special educators mainly work with children with disabilities like speech or language impairment, mental retardation, learning difficulties (autism, dyslexia, ADS, slow learners, Asperger’s Syndrome), visual or hearing impairment. They help these students develop emotionally, train them to be comfortable in social situations, and be aware of socially acceptable behaviour.
Empathy, communication and co-operation are essential traits. After understanding their special needs, a special educator needs to be highly innovative to devise appropriate learning strategies and motivate the child to be as optimally functional and well adjusted as possible.
A course in Special Education equips you to work with such chil¬dren studying either in special schools or in general schools in an integrated setting. But be prepared, while it is immensely satisfying and gives you the opportunity to make a difference, it calls for a great deal of patience, commitment and hard work. In one word, you need to be indefatigable.
A variety of options ranging from 1-year Diploma and B Ed (special) courses to three to four year bachelor’s degree courses are available. Since you have already done your graduation, you could opt for any of the 1 -year B Ed (Special Ed) programmes offered at a number of universities.
The Rehabilitation Council of India is a statutory body under the M/o Social Justice & Empowerment, located at 23-A, Shivajj Marg, New Delhi 110015. Incidentally, it is mandatory for every special educator to be registered with RCI.