Arijit Banerjee, J. - (1.) The short issue but with a wide implication and ramification that arises for determination in these writ petitions is whether the D. Ed. (Special Education) qualification should be treated as a valid training qualification for the purpose of the process of recruitment of teachers in Primary Schools in the State of West Bengal so as to entitle a candidate with such qualification to the appropriate percentage/proportion of the 15 marks allotted for training qualification in the Recruitment Rules. The petitioners have all passed their higher secondary examination. Some of them have also done graduation. The petitioners have all acquired the D. Ed. (Special Education) qualification from various institutes approved by the Rehabilitation Council of India which is a body constituted under the Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992. The grievance of the petitioners is that the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (in short the 'Board') is not treating the D. Ed. (Special Education) [in short the 'D. Ed. (SE)'] qualification as a valid training qualification in respect of the selection process initiated by the publication of the impugned advertisement dated 26 September, 2016. The D. Ed (SE) course trains the aspiring teachers to teach students with special needs. The petitioners contend that the D. Ed (SE) qualification entitles them to be considered as trained candidates.
(2.) Appearing for the writ petitioners in WP 24892 (W) of 2016, Mr. Kishore Dutta, learned Senior Advocate, submitted that promoting inclusive education is the motto of the day. The National Council for Teacher Education (in short 'NCTE') and Rehabilitation Council of India (in short 'RCI') are working together to being the children with special needs to the mainstream by accommodating them in normal schools. He submitted that Article 21A of the Constitution was brought in by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth amendment) Act, 2002 casting an obligation on the State to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years in such manner as the State may determine by law. To achieve the said object, the Parliament enacted the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (in short 'RTE Act'). Learned Senior Counsel referred to Sections 2, 3, 12, 23 and 29 of the RTE Act and also to Rules 5 and 11 of the RTE Rules, 2010, which I shall advert to later. He submitted that the State policy is that there should be no segregation of children with special needs or belonging to the financially weaker section of the society and the children without such physical or financial disability. The object is to promote integration.
(3.) Mr. Dutta referred to a Memorandum of Understanding dated 19 January, 2005 entered into by and between NCTE and RCI, the preamble of which reads as follows:- India has already launched a Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan aimed at bringing all children to school and enabling them to complete elementary education by 2010. The objective is to ensure that every child of the country has had elementary education by 2010. WHO and the United Nation General Assembly estimated that 10% of the children population has some physical, sensory or cognitive impairment which may interfere with the process of receiving education unless support services are provided. For the last many centuries or so this country has segregated these children in special schools which have been able to reach very small percentage of children with special needs.;