Overview
- The West Bengal School Education Department has announced a planning‑stage package to reduce dropouts among specially‑abled students by keeping them in government‑sponsored and aided regular schools beyond elementary grades.
- The measures under consideration include physical accessibility upgrades, ramps and building repairs, provision of assistive learning materials and equipment, and the appointment of special educators in schools.
- Department leaders have stressed changing teacher and staff attitudes through sensitivity training so that schools treat specially‑abled students as part of the classroom rather than an extra burden.
- Officials say the department will hold workshops and directly consult parents, children and teachers to shape how the plans are implemented, but no rollout dates, budgets or pilot locations have been released.
- The effort builds on the Right to Education Act framework that currently covers regular schooling up to Class 8 and signals a shift toward long‑term mainstreaming rather than creating separate special schools.