Women’s group takes up case of ‘slow learning’ student

Panaji, Oct 16 (IANS) Women’s activists in Goa Tuesday rapped the state government’s doors to ensure a “slow learning” 10-year-old girl, who has been shuttled between different schools over issues related to grasp of syllabi, gets back to school.

In a memorandum submitted to state Education Secretary Keshav Chandra, Bailancho Saad, a leading women’s rights group, said that schools refusing to admit the 10-year-old girl had to be tried under the recently introduced Right to Education (RTE) Act, which makes it mandatory by law to ensure that no child remains without schooling.

“The girl child was studying in Class 5 in a government-aided school in Canacona. After attending school for a month (admitted in June), the school head refused to allow her to attend school from July as she was a slow learner,” said the group’s convenor Sabina Martins in her memorandum.

The girl was asked to admit herself at a special school, which too rejected her admission, stating that she was only a “normal child” with a slow learning curve.

“For four months now, the girl child is still out of school as the school refused to allow her despite paying admission fees,” Martins said.

“The girl comes from a poor family from Canacona and finds it beyond their means to travel to Panaji to petition and follow-up on the complaint,” she added.

Chandra has asked the state education department to probe the incident.

IANS 2012-10-16 21:45:57