Interview

Bangalore: Inclusive education at the primary level

The government of Karnataka has taken a giant step in policy making on Inclusive Education to ensure access to primary education for all children with disability in the state (1.6 per cent of school-going children). If the draft policy document, currently being discussed among some state departments and with NGOs in the disability sector, comes into effect, this will be the first major commitment by a state government in India towards guaranteeing primary education for persons with disability. The concept of ‘inclusion’ attempts to bring children with disability into mainstream schools and meet all their needs. On the eve of the release of the draft policy on the Internet for a public debate, L K Atheeq, state policy director, Sarva Shiksha Abhayan, has this to say:

On the significance of the policy

As one of the states that has played a big role in providing basic education to persons with disability, Karnataka has been running an Inclusive Education Programme for some years now. Despite our efforts to train teachers in the concept of inclusion and to make other structural changes to our education system towards inclusion, there is still the need for direction, consolidation, and, above all, avoidance of duplication. So, we decided on the policy and the government passed an order to set up a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Madhanagopal, the commissioner for public instruction. The committee met once and formed the draft policy, which, after inter-departmental consultations and a review by the NGOs, will be submitted to the government by the end of this year.

What are the key aspects?

Certainly the zero rejection of children with disability in schools. Through this policy is in place in the state’s schools, this will be hopefully, extended to private schools and government hostels. The policy also puts the thrust on creating a conducive environment for children with disability in which they can learn like other children. The call for ‘convergence’ the coming together of all the important state government departments that deal with persons with disability is also a significant aspect of this draft policy.

Karnataka is in the forefront in inclusive education. Highlight the important features…

Our emphasis has been on bringing about significant changes in the whole system. If we want children with disability to attend schools, we also need teachers to be aware of the children’s needs. We have trained three government teachers in each educational block of the state (202 in all). These teachers in turn have trained at least a fourth of the total teaching workforce in the state. Though we can’t say that these 60,000 teachers underwent extensive training, I can say that they have the basic attributes for handling children with disability. Of course, in the case of children with severe disabilities, we have appointed volunteers (one for three children in each block), who go to their doorstep and teach the, basic skills, apart from a little reading and writing. This programme, called home-based education, has helped 9,000 children in the state who get personal attention that they often might not get from their families. We have also built ramps in 15,000 schools in the state, which is 35 per cent of the all government schools.

In short, this programme makes sure that no child is left behind by our education system. Even if the child can’t attend regular school, education - with the objective of rehabilitation and better living reaches the child in his home.

Is there scope for improvement?

Certainly there is more scope for improvement. Especially in some areas, need for more resource persons (alongside resource teachers) who are capable of handling different disabilities like blindness, orthopedic or hearing challenges… each disability has its own requirements.

We need to have more district-level experts like psychiatrists who can help us with better screening and assessment methods for children with mental retardation or sever learning disabilities, which is right now a daunting task for us. There are other challenges like reaching out to all and increasing the number of volunteers for children undergoing the home-based education programme.

Source: Inclusive education for fids with disability. Deccan Herald, Daily, Bangalore, 7 December 2006.