In a significant development, at least 44 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have been selected as lecturers in various degree colleges in the State.
Due to strong advocacy and a consistent battle of law by disability rights activist and Institute of Social Welfare and Research (ISWAR) secretary Sanyas Kumar Behera, all the 44 lecturers in different disciplines like Odia, English, Hindi, Political Science, Botany, Physics, Mathematics, logic, Philosophy, History, Economics and also Commerce have recently joined their colleges.
Pertinent to mention here that in 2015, the State Selection Board (SSB) had advertised 1,625 vacancies for the post of degree college lectures in different disciplines but had ignored the reservation for PWDs arbitrarily.
Annoyed over the injustice, Behera filed a complaint case before the State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities challenging such an unjust and discriminatory advertisement.
He also drew the attention of the State Government and the Governor on the problem.
After the strong advocacy and the sustained battle of law, the SSB Secretary had admitted the board’s ignorance and rectified its advertisement by ensuring due reservation for PWDs.
“Finally, after the completion of the recruitment process 44 PWDs have been selected for the prestigious jobs under the direct recruitment system after a gap of 27 long years,” said Behera.