Dr. Madhu Burma
Children are children irrespective of their ability and disability.All children deserve that they should be treated equally and demand for the said treatment is rather crucial due to peculiarity of the early years of life. Convention on the rights of child (CRC)states that their rights for survival, protection, development and participation should be well addressed. All children need to be brought under the ambit of ECCE wherein their concerns should be dealt equally. National ECCE Policy (NECCEP),2013 envisioned inclusion and focused on provision of quality inputs including care,health, nutrition and joyful learning experiences in protective and enabling environment to all children including disabled children to foster their holistic development.
According to World Health Organization ( WHO ) Disabilities is an umbrella term which covers impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. These terms are further elaborated as problem in body structure or function is impairment; difficulty encountered in executing task or action is activity limitation whereas problem experienced in involvement in life situations is participation restriction. On the other hand, disabilities are categorized as sensory, physical/ motor and cognitive, intellectual disability.
Children with disabilities need not be segregated rather they should be streamlined under one roof of ECCE Programme at ECCE centre.It’s the ECCE centre, where the child comes in contact with peers and functionaries of the centre and get the opportunity to practice coordination of motor skills, develop physical as well as cognitive skills, express his/ her thoughts and feelings and when the child with some sort of disability comes there and becomes the part of ECCE centre, it is called as inclusion under ECCE programmme.
The NECCEP,2013 as envisioned inclusion in ECCE and guided States/ UTs to include disable children under ECCE programme and make necessary modifications in imparting ECCE wherever they are required. As per this, ECCE functionaries may need to bring out changes in centre’s building, furniture, equipment, teaching learning material,teaching methods, assessment method and above all in the transaction of contextualized ECCE curriculum to reach to the level of children. In order to deal with disabled children, above all,ECCE centre functionaries have to bring change in their attitude, which is considered as prerequisite thing as children with disabilities can also learn and participate in activities. ECCE functionaries should be well versed with, what adaptations to make in which learning be made possible for such children.
Objectives of inclusion under ECCE as-detect disabilities at an earliest in children; prevent secondary disabilities and initiate intervention measures; refer such children to health centers for treatment and medical intervention; provide stimulation, education and therapy to minimize delays; treat child normally and make him/her participate in all classroom activities; foster development in all domains of development by providing activities for physical, motor, social, emotional and cognitive development; bulit environment where other children accept children with disabilities; provide nutrition and health inputs and inculcate school readiness skills which will help further inclusion in primary school.
The main concerns which need to addressed for under 3 years of children in inclusion at ECCE Centres are as-early detection of disabilities; nutrition and health inputs; early intervention to reduce disabilities and early stimulation. In case of children above 3 years, the main concerns are : make disabled child visible by getting him/ her at an ECCE centre and make him/her to attend ECCE centre; develop social skills, communication skills, emotional independence and enhancing attention span, make mobility independent in the centre; medical intervention & treatment as needed and develop school readiness skills as -pre-reading, pre-writing and pre- number skills in the child.
ECCE worker has to play key role by becoming responsible in integrating children with disabilities at an ECCE centre by identitifying such children; ensuring screening by mobile health teams of Rashtriya Bal Svasthya Karyakaram ( RBSK ); ensure medical help and encourage caregivers to send their children to centre and provide greater attention to such children in learning activities, simplify content and Teaching Learning Material according to their needs; only then the real objective of inclusion can be achieved successfully by providing benefits to the most deserving lot I.e. all children.
“If nature has blessed us with little buds, it is our responsibility to nurture all of them to blossom to their fullest extent”.
(The author is State Level Master Trainer State Resource Centre Mission ICDS Jammu)
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