Fwd: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Inclusive Education Policy and the Expected Role of the Specialized Institutions. Reply by 21 May 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anjela Taneja <anjela_taneja@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, May 17, 2010 at 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Inclusive Education Policy and the Expected Role of the Specialized Institutions. Reply by 21 May 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Dear Friends,

At the outset, it is essential to start by stating that the diversity of children with disability is a reflection of the diversity of children. While this may be something obvious at first sight, it implies that the education system (which is essential for ensuring the development of all children) should take into cognizance that diversity. The current framework of education- monograde, with high class sizes, formal examination driven and very low tolerance for diversity in the classroom, is not conducive to addressing any form of special needs- not necessarily of those with children of disability, but also those of children from migrant families, tribal dialect speakers, and whole range of groups that are not part of the homogenous mainstream. Consequently, any subsequent discussion on inclusion needs to start with reiterating the need for a systemic change of the education system as a whole to make it more inclusive.

Secondly, the question seems to imply a dichotomy of educational settings- something called "neighbourhood school"- which is presumably largely non-inclusive and "special" schools. This does not take into cognizance the presence of specially equipped inclusive schools, some of which have the track record of having provided education to children with disability (including fairly severely disabled children) while also providing education to children without disability as well. Inclusion or integration of children with disability doesn't just happen- an effort has to be made to ensure that the environment is made conducive for children to attend the same. At the same time, it requires resources- human and financial, and above all will to ensure that all children receive education of an appropriate standard. Most education providers are reluctant to make the necessary effort, or lack the resources necessary for this. Logically, therefore, the State needs to step up to its responsibility for ensuring education for all in view of the resources involved. However, it has shown little serious interest in intervening to fundamentally alter the quality in schools, focusing instead on increasing the overall levels of enrollment. Add to this, there is the chronic neglect of the issues of children with disability by both society and the state. It's highly unfortunate that we still do not have a universally accepted definition of children with disability. 

Consequently, the fear of the scale of the work necessary for making all schools inclusive, reluctance to incur the expenses necessary and the overall apathy as far as the issues of children with disability are concerned, has resulted in the basics being ignored. There are not enough special teachers, not enough teachers in the mainstream schools who have even been oriented (let along trained) to address issues of children with disability, not enough teaching learning materials, schools are not barrier free, etc. The list goes on and on. There are also no minimum standards for recognition or curriculum for special schools making all of them more or less non formal. The consequence of this neglect is that, according to the DISE data, children with disability amount to only 0.84% of the entire enrollment. Other data suggests that 40% of all out of school children are children with special needs (cited in the Anil Bordia Committee Report).

The point, however, is whether historic and extremely acute neglect would justify the continued segregation of children, in clear violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and previous child rights provisions.

Returning to the specific questions,

Is it possible or efficient to give good quality facilities and teaching in the local school to every impaired child, no matter how scattered and isolated they are, how severe their disability and the nature of their impairment? 

Firstly, this is an unfair question in view of the fact that there hasn't been an effort made to include even borderline impaired children. Secondly, the answer cannot be given in clear- yes and no. It depends on whether the State accepts the principle of inclusion and make the effort to ensure that every child has access to appropriate schooling.

Can an integrated system ensure as rich and supportive a learning environment and sense of belonging for the severely disabled as a special school?

Again, the answer is yes. However, actualizing it depends on how much of an effort is to be made to do so. In its absence, it may be pragmatic in some cases to opt for a special school over an inadequate inclusive school.

Are there any other innovative ways to bring about the much-needed erasure of segregation, without excluding a large group of the disabled from the special education and support they deserve?

If one looks at the west (and what is being attempted by SSA albeit in a typically badly thought out manner), is ensuring availability of specialist teachers, physical rehabilitation/physiotherapy services and other facilities at the school or in a central place in the community. This is supplemented through the use of technology whereby children with disability (eg paralysis) are able to use the skills and abilities that they possess to the optimum. I know it's a cliché, but Stephan Hawking appears to have a fairly high level of functionality despite extremely severe disability.

In conclusion, there are no short cuts or simple ways of ensuring end of segregation except creating an inclusive environment. The technology and the knowhow to ensure inclusion of severely disabled children in schools exist, however, there is little desire across the board to ensure that it is put into practice.

Regards,

Anjela Taneja

Actionaid India

New Delhi

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From: Claire Noronha [mailto:cordrpc@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2010 11:45 AM
To: 'Education Community'
Subject: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Inclusive Education Policy and the Expected Role of the Specialized Institutions. Reply by 05th May 2010

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, We are happy to post the discussion issue on Inclusive Education and the Specialized Institutions. The discussion is being Guest Moderated by Claire Noronha.  Claire has had experience of the teaching profession at both school and university level.  This has been enriched by some 15 years of research into education for the disadvantaged.  Currently she is researching the impact of education for this group in areas ranging from skills training and labor market outcomes to the impact of private schools.

We are sure members would come up with useful insights on the above issue.

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Dear Friends,

Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD) is an independent research group that seeks to articulate the problems of the disadvantaged through field-based research. CORD endeavors to influence policy and public opinion by making its research findings accessible to the public.  CORD has been researching on the conditions in government schools in the northern states for well over a decade.  Its core members were part of the PROBE team(Public Report on Basic Education, OUP-Delhi, 1999) .

Recently, we have focused specifically on disability as one of the sub themes in our research into outcomes of education for those in poverty (RECOUP[1]) For details see http://recoup.educ.cam.ac.uk/ and www.cordindia.com .  The study consisted of both a quantitative survey with a differently abled sub theme, and a qualitative study of young people who were severely visually impaired, hearing impaired and physically impaired.  This was supplemented with visits to 'mainstream' schools and special schools for the VI and HI to which our respondents had been. Our own research suggests that we need more debate on many aspects of inclusive education, because of the varied nature of the differently-abled and because we may find that special schools have something special to offer which might take our existing education system decades to put in place. No doubt we do need to think of the special schools as treasuries of expertise which could benefit other schools, other teachers and the families of the disabled and sensitize people in general.  But do we need to negate their special educator teaching role.

 

Our experience, albeit limited, threw up some fundamental questions vis-à-vis the nature and implementation of the inclusive education policy and the expected role of the specialized institutions within that.

The question on which we focus here is whether inclusive education always means 'mainstream' education or being included in the neighborhood school?   The first major problem is the sheer heterogeneity of the category 'disability' and the small and scattered numbers in each category.  The blanket term covers so many types of impairment, sometimes requiring teaching methods that are quite specialized. 

In the light of the above, the following questions seem to me to be relevant for discussion:

• Is it possible or efficient to give good quality facilities and teaching in the local school to every impaired child, no matter how scattered and isolated they are, how severe their disability and the nature of their impairment? 
• Can an integrated system ensure as rich and supportive a learning environment and sense of belonging for the severely disabled as a special school?
• Are there any other innovative ways to bring about the much-needed erasure of segregation, without excluding a large group of the disabled from the special education and support they deserve?

It would be good if members, especially special educators, teachers, educationists, disability rights activists and the differently-abled themselves could give their views on these questions and share their own experiences.  This will help develop a better understanding of the role of special institutions in education for differently abled children, especially those belonging to certain categories of impairment.

Regards,

Claire Noronha

Collaborative Research & Dissemination

New Delhi

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