Inclusive Education: Challenges and Strategies.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar Awasthi

Teacher Educator
Bajaj College of Management & Technology,
Gadarpur, Udham Singh Nagar.

Abstract
The concept of inclusion was conceived in 1948 with the declaration adopted by the UN
General Assembly on the “International Bill of Rights”, which recognising that all human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This declaration fundamentally seeks to
deal with the issue of discrimination at all levels in every facet of society. Inclusion is both a
process for and outcome of understanding, acceptance, and valuing of differences among
today’s school children and youth. It is potentially both a process and an outcome for
achieving social justice and equity in our society. To address inclusion, we must move
beyond the rhetoric and the debate of moral, legal, and philosophical issues. Regardless of
whether these issues are settled or not, we must accept the fact that inclusion is here. It is a
fact of life in our public schools and will remain so in the decades to come. No matter whose
point of view ultimately prevails, it is fair to say that there will be dramatic changes over the
next few years in how and especially where, we educate students with disabilities. After
knowing the meaning of inclusion, now let us understand the concept of inclusion in the field
of education.
Keywords: - Inclusion, social justice, Equity, ‘Inclusion’ in Education, Academic skills.

Introduction
The term ‘Inclusive Education’ is more than a term. It means to welcome all children without
discrimination into the regular school. Students with disabilities are placed in regular schools
which provide resource room services as well as support teacher services, both in the same
location. The term ‘Inclusive Education’ refers to the system of education (including the
institutions, curricular, teachers, and teaching and evaluation methods) adopted for regular
children. It emphasises the need for mainstreaming of persons with disabilities.

As We all know that Education is not only a fundamental right, but has also been declared as
one of the human rights. This clearly means that every child has the basic right to education.
Obviously, each and every child should get admitted to the school. After the child gets
admitted to the school, who has to take care of imparting education to the child? Yes, you are
right. It is the teacher who has to shoulder this responsibility. We as teachers know that each
and every child is unique and so, the education we impart should be meaningful. You know
that each child is unique.

Inclusion is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. It
also means the act of including someone or something as part of a group, list, etc. There is a
lot of debate and discussions regarding the meaning of the term ‘Inclusion’ in Education. For
some it means, “Mainstreaming” students. Under the concept of mainstreaming, students with
disabilities are taught in resource programmes until their academic skills increase to the same,
or very nearly the same level as their same-age peers in regular classrooms. Students with
disabilities will then be “mainstreamed” into the general education setting. Thus, the
emphasis is on changing the child to better fit the “regular” system of education. On the other
hand, the concept of inclusion places emphasis on changing the system, rather than the child.
This has two aspects: Legal and Philosophical. Legally, according to the People with
Disability Act (PWD), 1992, students with disabilities are to be educated in the “least
restrictive environment”. To many professionals, parents, advocates, and consumers this
means the general classroom. Philosophically there is a movement towards a more inclusive
society that does not separate and segregate individuals based on differences that are often
misunderstood. If we accept inclusion, then our schools must mirror this inclusive diverse
society.

The conceptual analysis forms of education in the past like special education and integrated
education are as old as the history of education, where special schools catered to the needs of
a specific group or disability and formed a distinct segregation in their manner of functioning.
With a need to promote equal opportunities for its members to develop to their fullest
capacities without discrimination and within a democratic system of governance emerged the
concept of integrated education. It prepared the stage for inclusive education as a
precondition for it to grow and bloom as it laid the foundation for bringing children with
disabilities into regular classrooms. The change in the process of mainstreaming emerged as
inclusive education.
Inclusion refers to the education of all children with various disabilities and/or diversities in
the overall general educational structure by adapting the complete educational system to
include the school structure, infrastructure, methodology, curriculum, and classroom
management.
The inclusion of children with diverse needs has gathered momentum in the country since
1974, in both face- to- face and distance mode learning. For example, the National Institute of
Open Schooling offers courses that have the advantage of being specially adapted to the
needs of every child as well as giving the child every opportunity to progress at his/ her own
pace.

History of Inclusion
In Ancient India, persons with disabilities were accepted as part of natural order and were
accommodated and adjusted to the daily life activities of those times. The first school for the
deaf and the blind was started in India in 1884 and 1887, respectively. Discrimination on the
basis of disability is evident in the present literacy level in the case of disabled children.
There is a long way to raise the level to nearly 70%, which is the national literacy level. Most
of the states in India have not raised the level of literacy of persons with disabilities on par
with non-disabled persons. So, literacy campaigns like Education For All is not a reality and
should include disabled persons.
The major support for Inclusive Education came from the 1994 World Conference on Special
Needs Education in Salamanca, Spain, which emphasised that schools should accommodate
all children regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other
conditions. The urgency to address the needs of learners who are vulnerable to exclusion
through responsive educational opportunities was also highlighted at the Dakar (Senegal)
World Education Forum in April 2000, where in it was emphasised, “The key challenge is to
ensure that the broad vision of education for all as an inclusive concept reflected in national
government and funding agency policies.
The formal education of children with disabilities began in India in 1869 when Jane Leupot,
with the support of the Church Missionary Society, started a school for “blind students” in
Benares. It has also been reported that the first formal school for children with intellectual
and physical disabilities was established in the eastern part of India in Kurseong in 1918.

Inclusive Education: Challenges and Strategies

Fighting against poverty associated with disability: With an estimated 1,027 million
people, India is the world’s second most populated country. It has 17 per cent of the global
population and 20 per cent of the world’s out-of-school children. Despite impressive gains in
the last few decades, India still has more than 260 million people living in poverty. A large
number of children with disabilities live in families with income significantly below the
poverty level. According to experts in the field, while disability causes poverty, it is also
possible that in a country like India, poverty causes disability.
Modifying deeply held attitudes: Attitudes of the non-disabled are proving to be a major
barrier in the social integration of persons with disabilities. The amount of fear of
contamination increases with the visibility of deformity. This leads to segregation of disabled.
Such attitudes reinforced by religious institutions may influence against any attempts to
include students with disabilities into regular schools.

Dissemination of Information and public education: People, including parents and school
personnel, are largely unaware of the full intent of the recent legislation passed by Indian
Parliament in relation to people with disabilities. A large number of school personnel are also
not aware of funding available to include students with disabilities in regular schools. There
is some evidence that those educators who are knowledgeable about government policies and
laws concerning inclusive education tend to have positive attitudes toward implementing
such programs.

Providing adequate levels of training to key stakeholders: The majority of school

personnel in India are not trained to design and implement educational programmes for
students with disabilities in regular schools. According to reports in the field, most teacher
training programmes in India do not have a unit on Disability Studies. The universities, which
do cover some aspects of special education in their teacher training programmes, fail to train
teachers adequately to work in integrated settings.

Making provision for adequate resources: The majority of schools in India are poorly
designed and few are equipped to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. The
lack of disability friendly transportation services and accessible buildings are real problems in
the present situation. Both the Central and State governments will have to provide increased
resources to this aspect of education to ensure successful implementation of integrated
practices in schools.

Possible Strategies to Address some of the Challenges

Training of teachers: If inclusive education is to become a reality in India, then

the training of teachers has to become a top priority. The educational authorities in India may
adopt a policy of training one teacher from each school or a cluster of schools. The teacher
would need to be provided with intensive training to work with various disabilities and could
then act as an integration specialist or an inclusion facilitator for one or a number of schools
located in close proximity. Also, in-service teachers would need continued training to update
their skills and knowledge of inclusive education strategies.
Designing innovative system of training: Several authors have cautioned that
India will not be able to successfully implement inclusive educational services unless regular
school educators are trained at mass scale. It has been observed that the number of persons
who need training is very large and the conventional training methods cannot simply meet the
requirements. Therefore, there is a need to design some innovative models to train educators
at mass level. It has been suggested that one possibility to educate such a large number of
teachers is by using Distance Open Learning. Indira Gandhi National Open University
(IGNOU) has a history of successfully running courses for a larger number of students using
DOL mode. IGNOU, in association with Rehabilitation Council of India, is offering various
courses to the trainers of children with disabilities, including teachers.

Establishing collaboration between different ministries: Different ministries in India

administer various services for persons with disabilities. For example, while “inclusive
education” is the responsibility of Ministry of Human Resource Development, education in
special schools is the responsibility of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. This is
just one example of the waste of already limited resources. India cannot afford to have such
administrative arrangements. There is a need for streamlining administrative arrangements so
that funds provided to different ministries for persons with disabilities can be used
effectively.

Involving NGOs in implementing inclusive education programs: According

to the literature on NGO’s, there are more than one million NGO’s working in India.
Although not all of them are working in the education sector, a large number still provide
educational services to children with disabilities. These organizations can play a significant
role in implementing inclusive education because they are widely located in India and can
serve both urban and rural school communities. Regrettably, still a large number of NGOs
believe in segregated set up for children with disabilities.
Establishing an alternate system of examination: Majority of school administrators still
believe that integration of disabled may deteriorate the standard of schools in terms of
academic results. This is because the both the disabled and normal students are evaluated on
the same set of standards. Truly, there needs to be a different system of evaluation for
disabled children because the goals set for these children vary to some extent and they have
to be evaluated on these goals.

Establishing School-University partnership: The multilingual, multi-cultural and multi-

religious nature of India is often cited as a challenge in implementing any educational
reforms. Local universities in each of the States and Union Territories may play a significant
role in overcoming this challenge. Pilot projects involving local schools could be initiated by
universities to explore strategies that may be appropriate for each region. Also, texts on
practical strategies can be produced in the common language spoken by educators in each of
the States.

Conclusion
Inclusive education “is a process of strengthening the capacity of the education system to
reach out to all learners.” “It involves restructuring the culture, policies and practices in
schools so that they can respond to the diversity of students in their locality.” For a school to
be inclusive, the attitudes of everyone in the school, including administrators, teachers, and
other students, are positive towards students with disabilities. Inclusive education means that
all children, regardless of their ability level, are included in a mainstream classroom, or in the
most appropriate or least restrictive environment (LRE), that students of all ability levels are
taught as equals, and that teachers must adjust their curriculum and teaching methodologies
so that all students benefit.
The term “inclusive education” refers to the system of education (including the institutions,
curricular, teachers and teaching and evaluation methods) adopted in the regular children. It
emphasized the need for mainstreaming of the persons with disabilities in the regular
education for all. There are number of challenges to inclusive education like changing the
attitude of people towards disability, developing awareness, preparing teachers in good
number, creating barrier-free environment, overcoming resistance of parents etc.
Possible strategies to address some of the challenges are Training of teachers, designing
innovative systems of training, collaborating different ministries, establishing an alternative
system of examination, working for school-university partnership.
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