Making Inclusive Education a Reality for Children with Disabilities

(Courtesy: Lilian D’Costa)

Introduction

One cannot argue adequately enough the importance of education and its over-arching influence on every aspect of a person’s life, least of all on that of a person with disability (PWD). Discriminated against, socially, politically and economically, education is arguably their only means to long term empowerment and social respectability, and yet sixty years on, India has rather unimpressive statistics to show for the level of literacy in the country. About 38% of the country’s population is illiterate, the rate is 15% higher among PWDs. Conservatively, there are about 10 million Children with Disabilities (CWD) in the country and about 90% of them are out of school. When one tries to understand the problem faced by CWDs in accessing education, one cannot help but stumble upon the larger problem of education facing the country. The education budgets in the country are falling instead of increasing. The Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government promised to gradually hike the education budget to at least 6% of the GDP; however three years later it continues to linger at around 3%. Numerous States like Karnataka have a budget of 2.25% lower than the national average. Pedagogical methodology continues to be archaic, rote based, and the dis-empowered approach of the education system continues to view the educational needs of CWDs as a non-issue. School is considered a past time for the CWD and their presence in the classroom, a burden to the teacher. And yet, the right to education is a Fundamental Right of all children including those with disabilities.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA)

For a long while education for CWDs had been paid only lip service. However, with the launch of the SSA in 2001, the educational needs of CWDs for the first time ever, got a budgetary allocation and an opportunity to study in a common school with non-disabled children their age. The key word that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) helds for CWDs was ‘Inclusive Education’. According to the definition employed by the Government of India while formulating the Action Plan for Inclusive Education for Children and Youth with Disabilities in 1995, “Inclusive education, as an approach, seeks to address the learning needs of all children, youth and adults with a specific focus on those who are vulnerable to marginalization and exclusion. It implies all learners, young people – with or without disabilities – being able to learn together through access to common pre-school provisions, schools and community educational settings with an appropriate network of support services.”

Most people, especially those sensitive to disability issues concede that the imperatives of social justice and equality mandate the education of physically and mentally challenged children and that too in a happy environment. Special schools are often un-stimulating environments that are poor replicas of real-life. Most PWDs who have studied in special schools feel these spaces deprived them of an opportunity to develop their confidence and engage in real life adjustments. In a cash strapped economy like India, where the education budget has been declining, inclusive education holds the key to ensuring successful education of the over 10 million CWDs in the country. An inclusive school is also a microcosm of society and it is in this school environment that non-disabled children can be sensitized to all types of people around them.

Filed under: Disabled children, Illiteracy, Inclusive education

Inclusive Education

Inclusion in the context of education is the practice, in which students with special educational needs spend most or all of their time with non-disabled students. Implementation of this practice varies; schools can use it for selected students with mild to severe special needs.^[1] Description: Inclusive education differs from previously held notions of ‘integration’ and ‘mainstreaming’, which tended to be concerned principally with disability and ‘special educational needs’ and implied learners changing or becoming ‘ready for’ accommodation by the mainstream. By contrast, inclusion is about the child’s right to participate and the school’s duty to accept the child. Inclusion rejects the use of special schools or classrooms to separate students with disabilities from students without disabilities. A premium is placed upon full participation by students with disabilities and upon respect for their social, civil, and educational rights.

Inclusive schools no longer distinguish between “general education” and “special education” programs; instead, the school is restructured so that all students learn together.^[2]

Proponents want to maximize the participation of all learners in the community schools of their choice, make learning more meaningful and relevant for all, particularly those learners most vulnerable to exclusionary pressures, and to rethink and restructure policies, curricula, cultures and practices in schools and learning environments so that diverse learning needs can be met, whatever the origin or nature of those needs.^[3]

• All students can learn and benefit from education.
• Schools adapt to the needs of students, rather than students adapting to the needs of the school.
• Individual differences between students are a source of richness and diversity, and not a problem.
• The diversity of needs and pace of development of students are addressed through a wide and flexible range of responses (so long as those responses do not include removing a student with a disability from a general education classroom).

Inclusive education is a process of removing barriers and enabling all students, including previously excluded groups, to learn and participate effectively within general school systems.

(Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Filed under: Inclusive education