Two years ago, a student with 100% visual impairment came to Pune from Nanded with hopes of pursuing Psychology and becoming a music therapist. With her, her brother and mother also shifted to support her in the new city. However, the 20-year-old is now studying Political Science at one of the top SPPU-affiliated colleges instead.
She told The Indian Express, “I got my admission in Psychology course on merit basis. But the teachers at the time of admission kept saying that it will be very difficult for me to cope with all the practicals and clinical observations. Ultimately, they persuaded me as I was new and not very familiar and shifted me to the Political Science department instead.” She did not expect such behaviour from the institute and regrets this choice even today, especially because all in her family have gone through various hardships to make higher education a reality for her.
She is not the only visually impaired student to have been discouraged from studying Psychology due to her visual impairment.
Narendra Bapat, who works at Saksham Foundation, is concerned about the dire situation of PwD candidates, of which one is his own son. He told Express, “My son Atharva Bapat (20) is currently pursuing his 3rd year in Sanskrit at Fergusson College. He wanted to pursue Psychology, but the head of the department at the time of admissions told us that it would be difficult for him to cope with practicals and other observational activities, and it would be better to take admission in another subject. Ultimately, we decided to choose another subject.”
After struggling with an inaccessible college website and online college forms, 21-year-old Chaitanya Sindalkar from Latur managed to secure admission for a BA in Hindi at Garware College. He picked Psychology as his minor subject hoping to continue it for two years. After a whole semester of Psychology classes, he was in for a rude shock at the very last moment.
Chaitanya said, “Just two days before the first semester exam, the college authorities told me that I did not have Psychology as my minor, and it was History instead. After attending Psychology lectures for the entire semester. I had to appear for a History paper.”
Dr Rakesh More, Head of Psychology department at Garware College said, “Before NEP 2020, visually impaired candidates had an option for studying Psychology as a minor subject in the first and second year and drop it in the third when practicals started. But now with NEP implementation, students have to decide their major in the first year and it cannot be changed later. Due to this we are not supposed to give admissions to visually impaired candidates in Psychology in the first year.
While all colleges may not be outrightly denying admission, the explicit discouragement from teachers and administration can be jarring for persons with visual disabilities especially where reputed and competitive colleges are concerned because they fear losing their chance at higher education altogether.
However, the onus of making a certain academic course lies on the institute, said Dhananjay Bhole, co-ordinator at the Centre of Disability and Inclusive Education at SPPU. He explained, “According to the Right of Persons with Disability (RPwD) Act, 2016, any specially abled individual can seek admission in any course including medical sciences and it is the responsibility of the institution concerned to make all the arrangements according to the needs of the individual.”
While the rules at Mumbai University changed long back in 2010, allowing 100% visually impaired candidates to pursue a full major in Psychology, barely any institutes in Pune, including Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), have implemented.
Despite repeated attempts to contact and meet the Head of Department of Psychology at Fergusson College, there was no response. Meanwhile, Principal Nitin Kulkarni denied the allegations. He said, “There is no such discrimination at the time of admissions, not to deny psychology. (sic) In fact, a few years back, one student who was visually challenged had completed not only BA but MA in Psychology.”
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