Madhu Tandon
Inclusive Education has virtually changed the scope and goal of education system as it encompasses teaching-learning environment which is welcoming and supportive to all learners irrespective of their learning styles, abilities as well as disabilities. Maria-Montessori, a well-known Italian physician and educator made significant contribution by striving to lay stress on Inclusive Education to overlook the welfare of children with disabilities. Consequent upon this, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also decided to promote the concept of Inclusive Education to bridge down the educational gap between normal children and children with disabilities/CSWN.
To promote this, UNICEF has decided to support Governmental efforts across the globe to foster and monitor Inclusive Education System with an objective to educate students with disabilities alongside with their non-disabled peers. The sole objective is to ensure that all students should learn together in an inclusive environment for better productivity and growth in all aspects of life. Further, another aim is to have better academic achievements and to promote socialisation in order to foster community development and belongings, essential for promoting acceptance and respect for diversity. The main feature of Inclusive Education is that the teacher organises the classroom with the scope of heterogeneity to facilitate equal opportunities for all. The principles of inclusion promote equity, access, opportunity coupled with the rights of the children and students with disabilities in education. Another aim is to promote and contribute towards reducing gaps of discrimination against them. However, a lot remains to be done to overcome the barriers of Inclusive Education because there is still lack of funding as also accessible infrastructure, supporting staff, teacher training etc. A lot is required to overcome the challenges coming in achieving the objectives of Inclusive education and this is not possible with limited resources.
It is apt to mention here that a special teacher is appointed to cater to the needs of the disabled students in normal schools and this special teacher provides support to the general teacher by team-teaching or by way of collaboration. Therefore, inclusive education requires sufficient resources including man power and other material support to cater to the diverse needs of the students. This includes access to specialised services, assistive technologies and provide all necessary support to Special educators in resource rooms. The inclusive teaching methodology should also be evolved so as to make the teachers to have a high degree of awareness of learners needs in order to boost confidence and support in them in the classroom. The inclusive education has two sub types regular inclusion and partial inclusion and the other one is full inclusion. Inclusive practice is not always inclusive but is a form of integration. Therefore, different strategies are required to boost inclusive education. An inclusive classroom should have a feature of all learning styles and abilities for example, an inclusive classroom should have a mix of gifted students , auditory learners, visual learners and students with other disabilities such as ADHD etc.
The teaching method should comprise of constructive approach based on project based learning, enquiry based learning, cooperative learning etc. as in essence the teaching styles revolves around 03 methods viz; direct teaching, discussion based teaching and empowering students by understanding their problems. There are some useful traits around which inclusive education is centred and this includes adaptability, empathy, patience, engagement, respectful attitude etc. which plays a key role in moulding and shaping the future of the children.
Needless to say here that inclusive education should be given wider publicity so as to expand its outreach in every nook and corner of the country. The NEP 2020 also lays stress on widening the scope of inclusive education for better development of contemporary generation but for making society and education inclusive in real sense, concerted efforts are required to be made at every level. In case, it is not done then the society is bound to face ramifications in times to come as it should be our endeavour to work for the welfare of all including children with disabilities or children with special needs to make society robust and strong at grass root level to make India a really developed country by 2047.
(The author is Sr. Lecturer DIET Jammu)
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