Measure mental illness through IQ levels, says CBSE
BY: PRISCILLA JEBARAJ | NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 20, 2020
Disability activists say many students with mental
illness may have high IQ scores
A circular issued by the Central Board of Secondary
Education on the eve of the Class 10 and 12 board examinations has asked for
students with mental illnesses to provide medical certificates using their IQ
scores to measure their disability level, in order to avail concessions in the
examinations.
Disability activists and psychologists have pointed out
that this is an inaccurate way to evaluate mental illness and also does not
comply with the guidelines of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act,
2016.
“It is archaic to use IQ levels to measure even
intellectual disability,” pointed out Vaishnavi Jayakumar, a member of the Disability
Rights Alliance who has written to the CBSE asking for the February 14 circular
to be corrected. “But many people with mental illness don’t have intellectual
disabilities at all. You can have high IQ levels and still have serious
psychosocial disabilities,” she added.
“There is a lot of confusion and panic among students and
parents, especially as this has come at the last minute before examinations,”
said Seema Lal, a Kochi-based psychologist. and co-founder of Together We Can.,
an advocacy group for parents and children with disabilities. “Clinical
depression, personality disorders, specific learning disorders, autism — many
of these will not show low IQ score, but children may still require examination
support of various kinds,” said Seema Lal, a Kochi-based psychologist. She also
noted that emotional and social skills and adaptive behaviour also needed to be
taken into account.
When contacted, CBSE Controller of Examinations Sanyam
Bhardwaj told The Hindu that the circular had been issued the day before
examinations began because the Board had received a number of last minute
requests from parents and students claiming learning disabilities, and
demanding concessions.
“To avoid misuse of the concessions, we wanted to ensure
that they give us certificates with the specific levels of disabilities, as
stipulated by the Gazette notification issued by the Social Justice Ministry.
Otherwise, there is a rush of people coming last minute with incomplete
certificates claiming their child has dyslexia and demanding extra time,” said
Dr. Bhardwaj. Regarding the use of IQ scores to evaluate mental illness, he
admitted that the CBSE circular quoted only partially and selectively from the
notified guidelines for disability evaluation, and clarified that the CBSE
would be subject to the full guidelines.
The guidelines define mental illness as “a substantial
disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly
impairs judgment, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet
the ordinary demands of life, but does not include retardation which is a
condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person, specially
characterised by subnormality of intelligence.”
It recommends clinical assessment as well as the
administration of the Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS)
to evaluate the disability. Only in cases where there is suspicion of
intellectual deficits, standardised IQ tests may be administered, says the
Act’s guidelines.
“Erroneously... leaving out the IDEAS element would
negate the availability of reasonable accommodation to candidates living with
psychosocial disability,” Ms. Jayakumar wrote in her letter to the CBSE.
Although Dr. Bhardwaj referred to students with dyslexia
and other learning disorders, the CBSE circular only refers to intellectual
disabilities and mental illnesses, leading to confusion among those with
specific learning disorders.
Ashi Sachin, mother of a 15-year old with dysgraphia,
says the circular has led to her son’s CBSE school demanding specific
certification. “He has been diagnosed with dysgraphia and needs extra time to
write the examination, as well as concessions with regards to internal marking
for class notes and record books. I have the psychologist’s report, but now the
school is not sure if they can give the concessions without a certificate on
the specific level of disability,” says Ms. Sachin, who did not wish to name
her son or his school. “His IQ score fluctuates around 100, but he still needs
help,” she added, noting that several CBSE principals planned to raise the
issue with the Board.
“There are issues with quantifying the level of
disability in the case of learning disorders, and there is a problem with
conflating such disorders with intellectual disability and mental illness. We
are also writing to the CBSE about the problem,” said Muralidharan Vishwanath,
general secretary of the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled.
Source :
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/measure-mental-illness-through-iq-levels-says-cbse/article30873530.ece
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