On Oct 10th, the inspiring founder of Socio Story Manoj Pachauri, moderated a discussion on Inclusive Education between Mr. Vikas Yadavendu and I.
Have attached the “Facebook Live” recording of the discussion later in this post. This was a first for me … for someone who struggles for an hour to figure out what someone has posted on Instagram doing a “Facebook Live” streaming is totally new !
Sharing some of my prep work for the session here.
The four acts that impact inclusive education –
PWD Act of 1995 – Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD Act, 1995), which draws on an approach of integration that emphasises that a student fit in the system rather than the system having to adapt. The PWD Act, 1995 stated that the government must endeavour to integrate children with disabilities into ‘mainstream schools’, while also allowing for the setting up of special schools for those requiring special education.
RTE act – Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) was enacted to enforce the fundamental right to education for children between six and fourteen years of age. In terms of education for children with disabilities, the RTE Act, 2009 neither defines inclusive education nor it has been updated with current disability rights framework.
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPWD Act), inclusive education got statutory backing in India.
NEP 2020 – A few highlights that point towards inclusive education.
- A broader category of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) rather than tribal, urban slum children, working children etc in the NEP 1986.
- Focus on gender parity through inclusion of transgender children and the “gender inclusion fund”.
- Special Education Zones (to be established specifically in disadvantaged regions across the country.
- Recognition given to school models such as madarsas, gurukal etc
- Standardization of Indian Sign Language (ISL)
- When the NEP states that ‘as far as possible’ the MoI (Medium of Instruction) will be the mother tongue, home language, local language or regional language, it ensures a degree of equality between languages, where no hierarchy is created. It is a principled, inclusive approach
We must remember that the shift in mindset is recent – the system has to adapt to include persons with disability and not the other way around.
Here is the Facebook Live discussion –
Please do watch the session and share your comments either on Socio Story’s FB page or here on my blog. Certainly hoping that the NEP 2020 makes education inclusive and brings in a lot more necessary changes. Will post more blogs on this topic as its related to ShikshaDaan and hence an area of interest to us.
Resource referred – https://vidhilegalpolicy.in/blog/why-inclusive-quality-education-in-india-is-still-a-far-cry/