Bhubaneswar: In a bid to encourage persons with disabilities (PwD) students to pursue higher education, the state government has decided to waive academic fees for them.
As per an order of the Higher Education department, all academic fees, except mess charges, will be exempted for students with disability of 40 per cent or more. The expenditure in this regard will be met by the aided colleges from their own internal resources.
The institution would provide scribe, reader and lab assistant to assist the students with disability of 40 per cent or more during all examinations, official sources said.
Equal Opportunity Cell (EOC) will be established in universities and colleges in accordance with the guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC). The EOC will work towards securing equal opportunities to students of ST/SC communities, girls as well as students with disabilities.
The above directive will be executed in government institutions as well as higher education institutions receiving grant-in-aid from the state government, they said.
PNN
