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dna impact: More vocational centres for special kids need of the hour

Experts said that due to the shortfall of such training centers, mentally challenged kids over 18 years of age were facing serious problems. They added that schools must give more time to parents to find alternative arrangements.

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With 31 kids at the Sewri-based Jai Vakeel school being shown the door for being "non-productive", experts have pointed out that the city lacks vocational training centers. They have now urged the state government to set up more such centers to facilitate life-long learning for kids with special needs. The school is run by the Research Society for the Care, Treatment and Training of Children in Need of Special Care.

Experts said that due to the shortfall of such training centers, mentally challenged kids over 18 years of age were facing serious problems. They added that schools must give more time to parents to find alternative arrangements.

This is the problem with such schools all over the state. Once schooling is over, there are not enough centers for vocational training. The government rules say that kids have to be taken away after the age of 18. In this case, however, the school management must make sure the kids have an alternative place to continue vocational training," said Dattaram Fonde, an expert who runs several schools for the mentally challenged.

Legislator Kapil Patil, who had raised the issue of poor state of affairs of the government-run schools for special kids in the state legislature, too, urged the state government to set up more training centers. "The situation is pretty grim. Where are the kids over 18 years of age supposed to go? These kids are adults only on paper but their mental growth is stunted. So asking them to leave school after 18 is really unfair. The government must either tweak its rule or set up more vocational training centers," he said.

dna had on Friday reported that parents of all 31 kids who are over 25 years of age at the Jai Vakeel school were asked to take their kids away and find a new place for their mentally challenged kids. While Ujjwal Uke, principal secretary at Social Justice department did not respond to calls and text messages, officials said the government was planning to set up more training centers.

"At the moment, there are 729 such schools and training centers where 32,344 kids are studying. Many more schools and training centers are proposed to be set up. For kids over 18 years of age, there are 5 government-run, 83 aided and 147 unaided training centers. The government has also cleared the proposal to set up more schools and training centers," said an official.

The Jai Vakeel school management, too, stressed on the need to have more training centers. "The government must set up more vocational training centers on priority basis. That is the only long-term solution. There is a need to have a policy overhaul on this," said Archana Chandra, school's administrative director.

The state social justice department is led by BJP minister Rajkumar Badole, who was not available for comments.

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