By Dr. Amit Bhalla 

Inclusive education is a brilliant way of educating students with special educational needs and cognitive challenges alongside their classmates in the very same classroom. It aims to meet the educational requirements of all students, with a particular emphasis on those that are at the risk of neglect. It encompasses all students, both with and without impairments, ready to harmonise with each other in shared pre-school settings, schools, and community educational settings, as well as having access to an incredible system of support programs. This is solely achievable in a versatile education sector that takes into account the demands of a diverse range of people and modifies itself to fit these objectives.

At the “World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and Quality” (Salamanca, Spain 1994), the concept of inclusive education was established, and it has been reaffirmed at the World Education Forum (Dakar, Senegal 2000). The United Nations’ Standard Rules on Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities Asserting Involvement and Equity, additionally support the concept of engagement. Recently, an agreement between Indian thinkers and educators has transpired in favour of inclusive classrooms in mainstream institutions.NPE 1986 recommended inclusive education as a “goal to integrate the handicapped with the general community at all levels as equal partners to prepare them for normal growth and to enable them to face life with courage and confidence”.

This new approach of learning is a way that entails transforming classrooms and certain other learning spaces to accommodate all students, including boys and girls, learners from minority groups, and children with special needs and learning problems. Learning occurs in a variety of ways, both implicit and explicit, even within households and broader groups. As a result, inclusivity is not just a secondary concern, but rather a critical component of reaching optimum outcome for all children as well as the establishment of a more equitable society.

In order to provide the best assistance to children with special requirements, MREI adheres to the inclusive education reform to the fullest. Inclusive education has indeed been completely implemented into the educational system, allowing children with special needs to adjust to normal education with ease. At MREI, inclusive education intends to include a multi-modal technique of teaching and evaluation, by merging students into the mainstream education through instrumental understanding, identifying improvements in classroom instruction, and therefore most notably, cultivating the child’s self – esteem and personal characteristics. Teachers frequently categorise students, although naming is not only bad for inclusivity but also for character formation. In the case of a child requiring special care, a sense of incompetence has an adverse influence. It is necessary to employ well trained instructors for the abatement of such issues.  A teacher’s lack of transparency is a hurdle to effective implementation.

With the assistance of its diverse instructors, advisors, and teachers, ManavRachna as an organisation continues to move forward in establishing an equitable learning environment for all its students. Breaking all the barriers, numerous events have been organised in support of inclusive education. Inclusive education is critical for shaping the nation’s future and ensuring that children with special needs are equally capable of making their mark in the world.

MREI, through organizing seminars and workshops dealing with the concerns of inclusive education, focuses on the ability of students to integrate into the society and acquire a feeling of connectedness. Through implementing inclusive education policy, MR tries to preserve social harmony by giving everyone a fair probability. It eliminates all forms of bigotry and intolerance. It introduces creative avenues, strategies, and criteria to learning for everyone, encouraging consciousness and allowing students to grow effective coping strategies. Rational thinking, judgment ability, and problem-solving abilities are also enhanced while regulating inclusive learning approaches. ManavRachnaemphasises on the power of inclusive education and works diligently each day to enhance the welfare of its students and the nation.

The objective of educational reform is achieved by such inclusive education. It dismantles barriers and dispels apprehensions. When concerns and restrictions are eliminated, education’s prominence is elevated. The country progresses in several disciplines and fields. In this, the teachers have a pivotal function. As they are properly equipped with knowledge and skills, it is the obligation of an educator to provide a favourable educational environment. Creating an effective learning atmosphere is the best way to make everybody feel engaged. MREI has managed to build quite an inclusive place wherein students with diverse cultures, personal and social capacities join together and acquire the finest knowledge and ability to stand firm and equitably in the face of worldly issues.

During the early 1080’s inclusive education as a topic started getting featured in research papers and literary reviews which was framed as an alternative to special education. Inclusive education expanded the responsibilities that the school systems had to enable to increase access, participation and learning opportunities for the marginalised students.  The idea was to create a collaborative, mutually constitutive and responsive interaction between the teachers and the students. But on a deeper level, I have always believed that inclusive education needs to have a premise designed to advance learning as a constant companion to individual and collective lives and this in turn can have a dramatic effect on the way social entrepreneurship is built in our country.

According to a survey undertaken by UNICEF, there are an estimated 240 million children worldwide who live with one or more disabilities. As disability is not something that disappears overnight, the consequences of a child’s unhealthy development might be severe, and its social awakening can bridge this gap. Most of us have genuine feelings about social awakening and the new-age term of social entrepreneurship, but primarily, the topic of inclusivity is what draws us together as a human race. Social entrepreneurship is coming to us in various shapes, sizes, and forms, but most importantly, inclusive education can be defined as a critical fuel that can drive social entrepreneurship.

As educational institutions, we must establish the value of inculcating social entrepreneurship among young people who forge ahead and play an essential part in making inclusivity of the differently-abled a reality, thus enabling them to contribute to the development of this deserving community.

To summarise the above, inclusive education promotes the acceptance of all students in an educational institution regardless of the obstacles or difficulties they face. A program that caters to a specific age range of pupils should provide equal opportunity to all children, regardless of their shortcomings or limitations.

The National Education Policy (NEP) addresses issues of inclusion, with the NEP 2020 moving away from conventional sites of exclusion and widening the classifications of socio-economically disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) by including individuals and vital intersectionality such as disabled children, migrant social groups, transgender people, tribal students, etc.

This is a significant step toward recognizing and strengthening the differently-abled population as a whole. Shifting a social attitude is usually difficult. However, developing a responsive mindset can be quite simple, if we are willing to evaluate actions and results from a disability angle. The 2016 Act on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD Act) addresses 21 disabilities. And as a starting point to promote seamless entry and mobility within the school perimeters, academic institutions have been asked to provide ramp access for wheelchair-bound students.

The Benefits of Inclusive Education

When children from all backgrounds come together and share the four walls of a classroom, their growth is exponential. Children learn a lot from one another, including how to deal with difficult situations and, more importantly, the significance of collaboration and integration. Many studies have shown that inclusive education improves the performance and skills of students with impairments. Students with impairments benefit from increased academic influence, enhanced social communication and interaction, and better social standing.

These deserving individuals long to get the feeling of being regular citizens and wish to be treated equally. This makes them happier and more effective, and they learn to adjust quickly to new situations. When one observes an environment that has inclusive education, one finds classmates acquiring a pleasant and supportive attitude towards their differently-abled peers. This broadens their perspective, and right from this grassroots level, they start to accept the differences with an unbiased view. And if this reality has to become part of our regular education system across allboards, then training teachers must manage unforeseen situations, drive unbiased collaborative learning, delegate leadership responsibilities to monitor those that need support from their classmates, and use communication techniques needed to engage better inclusive education.

For parents, inclusive education broadens their options for a community that shares the responsibility of their differently-abled ward, as they have more to worry about, in comparison to other parents. Globally, parents who chose an inclusive classroom-style education for their children had a favourable opinion of the educational institution’s brand value, and this value was also appreciated by parents of non-impaired children. The world is changing, and today we are accepting new and adapting ways to cooperate and include one and all in our communities, despite the differences.

Inclusivity has been practisedsince ages. The fascinating education system of ancient India brought about the concept of residential education, commonly known as Gurukuls. A Gurukul was the school where the students left their families to live with their teachers and gain knowledge of life. The students were admitted to the Gurukul at a specific stage depending on the caste they belonged to. The Brahmins, the Kshatriyas and the Vaishya students were admitted to the Gurukul at the age of 6, 8 and 11 respectively. There was never a barrier of rich or poor in a Gurukul which was the major highlight of the Indian education system back then.

Major areas of improvement

Children with disabilities have demonstrated exceptional abilities in a variety of educational and employment settings. Proper hand holding, direction, and encouragement will ensure that any innate mental impediments are removed over time. We must provide a solid foundation for such youngsters, but first, we must strengthen our mental underpinnings as a culture to allow inclusion.

Similarly, there must be special provisions made to cater to the washroom needs of these blessed and pure strata of society; easy-to-use bathroom facilities, defined assistive equipment, height-adjusted wash-basins, and ramp walkways, should be explicitly designated to such children. In fact, under the guidelines of inclusive learning, there is a defined criterion for accessibility and provision.

As a humanitarian mission, no differently-abled student will be left behind, and we must walk in harmony. NEP 2020 also guarantees that dialect will not be a hindrance since the use of the local language as the medium of teaching is authorised and schools have been advised to hire special educators to identify and meet the academic demands of students with special needs.

Practical and forward-thinking reforms will always be necessary to establish a society in which differently-abled children are loved and permitted to develop and flourish in the same manner as any other youngster. Overall, inclusive education is highly healthy and profitable for human evolution, which assures that special children do have a bright future. With such an inclusive education agenda, the promotion of social entrepreneurship will become the defining differentiator for providing post-education opportunities, and this needs to be handled collaboratively by the government and the education sector as a whole.

Let us embrace inclusivity as the new normal!

 (The author is Vice President, Manav Rachna Educational Institutions. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the FinancialExpress.com.)