High court in India tells school it must let girl with dyslexia sit for exams

From Express News Service in India:

The Calcutta High Court on March 3 directed Principal of Central School, Fort William and Chairman of CBSE to allow Payel Sarkar, a dyslexic girl, to appear for the Class XII examination, which begins on March 10.

Directing the principal to issue the admit card to the student, Justice Biswanath Somadder said schools “should’ve set up facilities for students suffering from this kind of disorder”, and directed the CBSE “to instruct schools to take care of mentally and physically challenged students”.

“It’s a great relief that she will appear in the examination,” Payel’s mother Alpana Sarkar said. “Payel got 44 marks in the test examination. She got 43 percent marks in the secondary examination.”

Payel, who is suffering from dyslexia since 2002, was refused the admit card by her school on the ground that she fell short on attendance.

Payel’s counsel Subrata Mukhopadyay pleaded that though she suffered from learning disorders, she had passed in all the subjects. So, the school should allow her to appear in the exam.

Learning has not been easy for Payel. “I noticed in 2002 that she could not pronounce or read the vowels. She only uttered the consonants. So, she was scoffed at by teachers for the mistakes,” said her mother.Payel started to learn the vowels after 2002 when she was ten years old.

Payel has been under treatment since 2002. “But there is no sign of significant improvement,” Alpana said.

Physically challenged students appearing in exams are given concessions by the CBSE.Students with audio-visual impairment or dyslexia, appearing for Class 10 or Class 12 exams are given one extra hour in case of a three-hour exam, 50 minutes if it is a two and half hour exam and 30 minutes in case of a one and half hour exam.

Dyslexic, autistic, spastic candidates and those with visual and hearing impairment also have the option of studying only one compulsory language as against two for normal students.