Assistant Professor, Department of Education
B.H. College, Howly, Barpeta, Assam
B.H. College, Howly, Barpeta, Assam
Abstract
Historically,
attempts towards development and ensuring equality and justice for all have
been done to conform to the norms and systems of the society. Quality basic
education is a fundamental human right. Through inclusive education, one can
respond to the diversity of needs of all learners and thereby reducing
exclusion to and within education system. Hence, inclusive education is a means
to achieve fundamental right to education for all. An important prerequisite
for inclusive education is have respect for differences, respect for different
learning styles, variations in methods, open and flexible curricula and
welcoming each and every child. In other words, inclusive schools are
learner-centered and child-friendly. There is also a need to shift in
perspectives and values so that diversity is appreciated and teachers are given
skills to provide all children, including those with different learning needs,
quality education. Through this paper, an attempt is made to analyze the
origin, concept and practices of inclusive education also it focuses on a
critical element of the inclusive education as a challenge towards achievement
of equity for students with disabilities. It will also explain the nature of
barriers confronted to inclusive education and suggest the approach for
successful its implementation.
Key word:
Right to Education, Disability, Inclusive Education
1. Introduction
One of the
greatest problems faced by the world today is the growing number of individuals
who are excluded from meaningful participation in the economic, social, political
and cultural life of the society. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 asserted
that “Everyone has a right to education.”Disabled children and adults
are however, frequently denied this fundamental right. This is often based on
an assumption that disabled people do not count as full human beings, and so
are somehow the exception interms of universal rights. The UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child 1989, a legally binding instrument that all (except USA and
Somalia) countries have signed, go further
by stating that primary education should be “Compulsory and available free to
all” (Article 28). The UNCRC has four General Principles which should underpin
with some articles, including those on education. They are-
- Article No. 2 stated No-discrimination should be making for disabled children.They should be given special importance.
- Article No. 3 mentioned for Best Interests of the Children.
- Article No. 6 stated that Right to Survival and Development of the disable children.
- Article 12 described for Respect for the Views of the Child.
Although
Article 23 focuses specifically on disabled children, it has weaknesses because
it makes the disabled child’s rights‘ subject to available resources’ and it
focuses on ‘special needs’ without defining this. It needs to be considered in
the context of the underpinning principles, plus Articles28 and 29 on education
that apply to all children.
The EFA Global
Monitoring Report (2008, 2009) sends a warning to governments that goals of EFA
can’t be met by 2015 if the problem of inequality in education is not dealt
properly, as education leads to an empowered and fulfilled life.
According to the 2005
Global Monitoring Report, “Education should allow children to reach their
fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities”.
Education for All means ensuring that all children have access to basic
education of good quality by creating an environment in where learners both
able and differently able to learn can learn.
Such an environment must be inclusive, effective, friendly and welcoming to all
learners.
The first
step to achieve this goal is to provide learning opportunities that will foster
the full development of learning potential in all learners. This has an
implication for providing personally challenging, individually appropriate
educational programme to all students, even those with exceptional learning
needs. This is possible only in a flexible education system that assimilates
the needs of a diverse range of learners and adapts itself to meet these needs.
2.Objectives
2.Objectives
i)To study the origin, concept and practices of inclusive education
and its focuses on a critical element of the inclusive education as a challenge
towards achievement of equity for students with disabilities.
ii)To study the
nature of barriers confronted to inclusive education and suggest the approach
for successful its implementation.
3. Methodology
The data for the present study are collected from secondary
sources i.e.,
through reviewing survey studies, books, journal, reports and internet sources.
Hence, the discussion of this paper is made on the basis of this data. Moreover
some personal observation and views are added in this paper.
4. Discussion of the Study
4.1. Disability
a Developmental issue
The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that 10% of any population is disabled (Thomas,
2005). Also, DFID (2000) highlighted the relationship between disability and
poverty. It was pointed out that
disability could be the reason for poverty because it can lead to isolation and
economic strain for the whole family, also the denial of education because of
disability can lead to a lack of employment opportunities. Similarly, poverty
can lead to malnutrition, dangerous working and living conditions (including
road accidents) bad health and maternity care, poor sanitation, and
vulnerability to natural disasters – all of which can result in disability. It
is clear that if this group is ignored then it is very difficult to achieve the
complete developmental goal.
According to an estimate
only 6% of the population may have a disability, with approximately 98% of
children with disabilities not attending any type of educational institution,
the current provision (specialist or mainstream, government or NGO) is clearly
not enough to attain EFA. At the core of inclusive education is the human right
to education, pronounced in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1949,
but disability is clearly a development issue that we ignore at a price,
including that of human rights. Alur (2002) stated that if a person with a
disability is dehumanized by cultural belief or stigma, as they are in India,
then they can be ‘indivisualized’ and not considered worthy of rights. While there are also very
important human, economic, social and political reasons for pursuing a policy
and approach of inclusive education, it is also a means of bringing about
personal development and building relationships among individuals, groups and
nations.
The Salamanca
Statement and Framework for Action (1994) asserts that, “Regular schools with
inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discrimination,
creating welcoming communities, building an inclusive society and achieving
education for all”.
4.2.
Inclusive Education- origin, concept and practices
The discussion on
inclusive education started with proposal of the social model of disability,
which proposes systemic barriers, negative attitudes and exclusion by society
(purposely or inadvertently) as the ultimate factors defining disability. This
shift in the idea came when it was realized that children in special schools
were seen as geographically and socially segregated from their peers and
failure of meaningfully integrating students in mainstream schools
(integration). Inclusive education is not only limited to mainstreaming the
learners with special needs but also concerned with identifying and overcoming
all barriers to effective, continuous and quality participation in education.
Booth (1996) has seen
inclusion as a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs
of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and
communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education. It involves changes
and modifications in content, approaches, structures and strategies, with a
common vision which covers all children of the appropriate age range and a
conviction that it is the responsibility of the regular system to educate all
children (UNESCO, 1994).
The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (1949), the United Nations General Assembly Charter
(1959) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) all
acknowledged education as a human right. The Salamanca Statement and Framework for
Action on Special Needs Education (1994) suggested “inclusion” in mainstream
education to be the norm so that all children have the opportunity to learn.
The Millennium
Development Goals endorsed at the UN Millennium Development Summit (September
2000) targeted the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and the
achievement of universal primary education as its first two goals. Inclusive
Education (IE) offers a strategy for reaching disabled children and adults and
other marginalized or at risk groups, who normally constitute the poorest of
the poor in developing country. Hence, Inclusive Education has been seen both
as getting learners into and through learning institution by developing schools
that are responsive to the actual, diverse needs of learning communities.
Hence, it can be seen as a device for both access and quality which are also
fundamental aspirations of EFA and MDG action frameworks.
In the broadest sense it
is an approach which enables both teachers and learners to feel comfortable with
diversity and to see it as a challenge and enrichment in the learning
environment, rather than a problem. It also relieves individuals from the
clutches of marginalization and exclusion.
One of the important
parameter for quality education is to welcome the diversity and to provide
flexibility in learning. Also, we have learnt that the quality of learning can
be enhanced by the diversity of student involvement. An inclusive approach to
education also strives to promote quality in the classroom by putting
flexibility interms of offering every individual a relevant education through a
range of methods and individualized learning and variation in optimal
opportunities for development personal growth of all learners.
Researchers
have also shown that Inclusive education results in improved social development
and academic outcomes for all learners as it provides opportunity to get
exposed to the real world which leads to the development of social skills and
better social interactions. It also provides platform to the non-disabled peers
adopt positive attitudes, tolerance and actions towards learners with
disabilities. Thus, inclusive education lays the foundation to an inclusive
society and participatory society by accepting, respecting and celebrating diversity.
4.3. Problems and Suggestions for Implementing Inclusive Education
While we cannot neglect
the importance of inclusive education it remains unanswered why the practice of
inclusive education is presenting problems. It appears that it is both at the
level of government policy but rather at the level of implementation. While the
policy states that all children should go to school – and governments are
enforcing this rule – in many cases quality learning is not taking place, which
is contradictory to the ethos of inclusive education. The reasons for the non-implementation
of the inclusive education in India, is because of various barriers which
according to Johan (2002) are both external and as well as internal. The
external barriers are confronted before coming to and getting enrolled in
schools, which includes physical location of schools, non-availability of
school, social stigmatization or economic conditions of the learners.
The internal
barriers are mostly psychological barriers like self-concept, confidence etc.
which are sometimes imposed by the external factors and first step to remove
the internal barriers is to remove the external barriers. The following are
some of the external barriers.
i)
Attitudinal Problems
It has been noted that
disabled students suffer from physical bullying, or emotional bullying. These
negative attitudes results in social discrimination and thus leads to
isolation, which produces barriers to inclusion. Regarding disabled children
some regions still maintain established beliefs that educating the disabled is
pointless. It is sad to note here that these barriers are caused by society,
which is more serious to any particular medical impairment. The isolation which
results from exclusion closes the doors of real learning. The negative
attitudes often develop due to lack of knowledge. Along with information about
disability or condition, their requirements must be provided to peers, school
staff and teachers as well. Increasing interactions between learners with
special needs and community through organization of fairs, meetings etc. It is
also very important to counsel the parents of these learners, especially in
rural areas about the importance of providing education for developing
self-reliant individuals. There is also a need to shift in perspectives and
values so that diversity is appreciated and teachers are given skills to
provide all children, including those with different learning needs, quality
education.
Also, at the
policy level, it should be mandatory for all to educate about disability, so
that a responsive individuals who respects disability could be developed.
ii) Physical Problems
Along with
the attitudinal barriers which are faced by the learners on the daily basis,
another important barrier is the physical barriers, which includes school
buildings, playgrounds, washrooms, library etc. Apart from this, the majority
of schools are physically inaccessible to many learners because of poor
buildings, particularly rural areas. Since most schools are not equipped to respond
to special needs, poses blockage for learners in physically getting into
school. For example, many of the students require a personal assistant for such
basic activities as taking lunch in recess, personal care, remedial education
efforts.
Most school buildings
don’t respond to the requirement of these learners properly. For example, if
there is a ramp, sometimes it is too steep, often the doors were too heavy for
the student to open unaided which impedes the access.
Hence, it is
important for implementing the inclusive education in schools, it is important
to overcome such physical barriers. Along with basic changes in the
architectural designs such as widening doorways, removing unnecessary doors,
installing proper ramps, technology could be used in the form of motion sensors
to open doors, flush toilets and automatic door buttons for easier access
through doors. Voice recognition technology can also use for activating many of
the above-mentioned barriers. Since, there is an inadequacy of resources available
to meet the basic needs in education, it is estimated that for achieving the
inclusive education goal will require additional financial support from the
government.
iii) Inappropriate
Curriculum
In any education system,
the curriculum is one of the major obstacles or tools to facilitate the
development especially in inclusive system.
Curriculum includes the broad aims of education and has its implications on
transactional and evaluation strategies. In our country of diversity,
curriculum is designed centrally, hence which leaves little flexibility for
local adaptations or for teachers to experiment and try out new approaches.
This results in making the content inaccessible and demotivating. Therefore,
the design and development of specific learning and teaching materials and
teaching arrangements should take cognizance the needs, interest, aspirations
and uniqueness of the learners. As a result of the knowledge based curriculum,
the examinations are also too much content oriented rather than success
oriented which is the demand of flexible inclusive curriculum. Supovitz &
Brennan (1997) as cited by UNESCO, 2003 argued that “while knowledge-based
examinations are recognized to have their limitations in terms of both validity
and reliability, formal standardized tests may also have adverse effects, such
decontextualized facts and skills; ranking and sorting schools and children;
narrowing the curriculum as teachers concentrate their teaching on the
information, forms and formats required in the tests; and reinforcing bias in
terms of gender, race/ethnicity and social class.”
In the
inclusive settings, assessment of learners must be against the broad aims of
curriculum and education and also must be evaluated against their own
achievements rather to be compared by others, which will be truly
individualized. Also, it is suggested that the assessment has to be continuous,
based on the feedback of both learners and the teachers. This will surely help
learners also teacher’s in selecting appropriate teaching methods and styles.
As a consequence, all learners can be evaluated against their own achievements
as opposed to being compared to other learners.
iv) Untrained
Teachers
For implementing the
inclusive education successfully, it is important that teachers must have
positive attitudes towards learners with special needs. But, because of lack of
knowledge, education, understanding, or effort the teachers give inappropriate
substitute work to the learners, which eventually leads to learners
dissatisfaction and poor quality of learning. Another important feature of the
schools is high teacher–student ratios (average 1:45) and where it is expected
that learners of diverse abilities have to be taught together. At the first
place, there is a scarcity of trained teachers to deal with the diversity and
secondly, it is very wrong to assume to deal with 45 learners with diversity.
Hence, it is
important to reduce the teacher- learner’s ratio in the classroom, which is
only possible if we have more schools with trained teachers to deal with the
diversity of learners.At present, training to teachers is fragmented,
uncoordinated and inadequate taking place in a segregated manner i.e. one for
special children and another for students with general capabilities; both of
them are preparing teachers for the segregated schools. However, there is an effort
by SCERT, DIETs in providing ongoing training programme, which are not adequate
because of various reasons. Therefore, it is important that an inclusive
teacher education programme must be designed which can foster proper skills
among teachers.
v) Organization
of the Education System
In our
country, there are different types of schools such as private, government;
public schools are developing inequality by offering differential levels of
facilities and support. Those having an access to private schools have higher
possibility of success as compared to those who go to government schools.
Therefore, it is important like many developed countries, the common school
system policy must be place properly. There is also a lack of information
within many systems and often there is not an accurate picture of the number of
learners excluded from the school system. Very often this leads to a situation
where these learners do not have equal opportunities for further education or
employment.
5. Conclusion
Disability is seen as a
developmental issue in any economy, as the disabled group is often being
marginalized due exclusion from the society and thus leading to poverty.
Inclusive Education approach doesn’t only provide the basic human right to
education but also dignity which is often being linked with the socio economic
status. It is seen as a device for both access and quality education which are
also fundamental aspirations of EFA and MDG action frameworks. Through,
inclusive education the learners gets a chance for not only getting into the
system but also a support to complete it successfully.
Inclusive
education results in improved social development and academic outcomes for all
learners as it provides opportunity to get exposed to the real world which
leads to the development of social skills and better social interactions. It
also provides platform to the non-disabled peers adopt positive attitudes,
tolerance. An important prerequisite for inclusive education is have respect
for differences, respect for different learning styles, variations in methods,
open and flexible curricula and welcoming each and every learner. A success of
any learner is dependent on both school and community, but, both of then poses
barriers in the implementation of the inclusive education policy. These
barriers are both external and internal in nature and in order to facilitate
inclusive education there has to have a modification in the environmental
conditions, which includes the physical changes in the school buildings and
increased number of schools. Apart from
that, very importantly there is a need to change the negative attitudes,
training of teachers and more responsibility towards learners with special
needs, which can be brought about by policy changes.
References
- S. Ali.Special Education For Differently able children,New Delhi: Kallayani Publication, 2014.
- M. Ainscow. Understanding the Development of Inclusive Schools, Oxford, Routledge, 1999.
- M. Alur, “Introduction,” in Education and Children with Special Needs: from Segregation to Inclusion, S. Hegarty, S andM. Alur, Ed. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2002.
- T. Booth (1996). “A Perspective on Inclusion from England.”Cambridge Journal of Education. 26(1): pp 87-99.
- E. Deno (1970). “Special education as developmental capital.”Exceptional Children. 54(2), pp. 229-237.
- P. Mittler. Working towards inclusive education: Social context, London: Fulton, 2000
- W.J. Smith. (1992) ‘The funding of inclusive education: A case study of critical policy issue.”Exceptionality Education Canada, 1992, 1&2, pp. 49-75.
- World Bank (2004). “Inclusive Education: An EFA Strategy for All Children.”
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