Times of India
22 April 2010
Bangalore, India

Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has added another feather in its cap this year. They have introduced reservation for dyslexic students across courses– medical, dental, engineering and architecture.

KEA administrative officer S P Kulkarni told TOI that the government order on this has already been issued. “We already have 3% of seats reserved for people with disability (PWD) across five categories. Dyslexia is the newly added 6th category,”he said.

According to Kulkarni, an organization working for the dyslexic approached KEA on why there wasnrsquo;t any reservation for these students. “Till then, we didnrsquo;t know what dyslexia was. When the students visited us, we couldnrsquo;t even make out that they were dyslexic. But when told to read, it clearly showed,”he said.

The KEA had placed the proposal before the government which accepted it and issued an order on Wednesday.

However, therersquo;s a problem– setting question paper for them. “We cannot set separate question papers for them. We are contemplating allotting an extra hour along with a scribe to read out questions to them. However, the issue does not end here. If we give more time then next test schedule will be affected. Wersquo;ll have to see what best can be done for these students,”he said. This year KEA has brought in many additional features for the benefits of students. Besides introducing SMS alerts, they have also extended the online seat selection process at Shimoga and Mangalore.