CHALLENGES TOWARDS
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR
CHILDREN
WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
(My first paper
presented in the National Seminar-cum-Workshop on Including
the Excluded: Role of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Education,
organised by AAE, FoE (K), B.H.U. Varanasi, November 14-15, 2010)
Rajnish Kumar Arya*
The right to education is universal and must
extent to all children, youth, and adults with disabilities. This right is
enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and addressed in
several significant, internationally approved declarations, including the World
Declaration for Education for All (1990), the Standard Rules on the
Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disability (1993), the UNESCO
Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (1994) and the Dakar Framework for
Action (2000). There are an estimated 25 million
children out of school in India (MHRD 2003 statistics, cited in World Bank,
2004), many of whom are marginalised by dimensions such as poverty, gender,
disability, and caste. We also know that the vast majority of
individuals with hearing or visual impairments in developing nations lack basic
literacy; that individuals with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities are
treated with often cruel neglect; and that there is a strong link between
disability and poverty. We also know that all individuals with disabilities,
given the opportunity, can lead meaningful, productive lives, and contribute to
the social and economic well being of their family and community. While many educational programmes have attempted to reach
out to these previously excluded children, those with disabilities including
Children with Visual Impairment are often forgotten, emphasising their
invisible status in a rigidly categorised society.
This paper,
while limited by the lack of available empirical data and constraints of desk
research, aims to present the current status of inclusive education in India
with a focus on challenges towards inclusive education for Children with visual
impairment.
The goal of
“Education for All” will only be achieved when the Union Government as well as
the State Government establish or reform public education systems that are
accessible to, and meet the needs of, individuals with disabilities including
Children with Visual Impairment. The inclusion of learners with special
educational needs in general education is becoming more prevalent (Crawford,
Almond, Tindal & Hollenback: 2002). As a result various special education
researchers have began to examine the success of inclusion, as well as the
attitudes and beliefs of general educators towards the inclusion of learner
with disabilities in the general education classroom (Ivey & Reincke, 2002;
Avrandis, 2001; Van Reusen, Shosho & Barker, 2000; Choles, 2000; Gorden,
2000; Kgare, 2000; Bothana, 1998; Van Staden, 2001; Hyan, 2001; makunga, 2002;
Siebalak, 2002). Work for the children with visual impairment in India is more
than a century old. Miss Anne Sharp founded the first school for the blind in Amritsar
in India in 1887. Though the foreign missionaries started the first
institution, Sri Lal Behari Shah was the first Indian to start the Calcutta
blind School in 1897(Murickan and Kareparampil, 1995). The growth of special
services for disabled children in India has followed the global trends of care
and help. Besides efforts from the voluntary sectors, the Union Government too
initatiated constructive activities towards the development of services for the
children with visual impairment. In 1942, the Government of India invited Sir
Clutha Mackenzie, a World War I veteran from New Zealand to conduct a survey on
blindness in India. The recommendations of his famous report on Blindness
(1944) have great influence on the programmes for persons with visual
impairment in the post-independent period. As soon as India got freedom the
Govt. of India took several steps to provide the education to the Persons with
Visual Impairment. In 1947, a unit on blindness was set up in the Ministry of
Education, which was headed by Lal Advani, himself a blind person. This unit
became the focal point for expansion of services to other disability areas
through the union government. The unit was also instrumental for the creation
of the concept of separate national institutes for the handicapped in India.
The development of Bharathi Braille Code in India also provides a fillip to the
augmentation of services for children with visual impairment. Though the
Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) initiated the work in 1922, it took
a concrete shape only during the first conference on Uniformity of Braille
Codes organised in Paris in 1950. At the time of independence in India, there
was no formal legislation to ensure compulsory education for the disabled.
Though the Article 45 of the Constitution of India has assured better services
to person with disabilities in India, it was not enforced through legislation
until recently. India came out with legislation in the form of Persons with
Disabilities (PWD) Act in 1995. The pre-independence period which witnessed the
growth of only 32 special schools for the blind rose to a remarkable 400
special schools in the post-independence period. Still, the beneficiaries of
the services constitute only about 5% (Status of Disability in India- 2000, Pp
3-4). A great work had been done to include the Children with Visual Impairment
in General Education as well as in the General Schools. But still a big portion
of the population is excluded from even the primary education.
Understanding of Inclusive Education:
Inclusive education is understood differently
by educationists, practitioners, government, parents, disabled people’s
organisations (DPOs) and other key stakeholders. This is evident at all levels,
and affects the acceptance, design, implementation and quality of the entire
process.
The Salamanca Framework focuses on inclusive
education as a strategy to include children with special educational needs in
mainstream education by responding the needs of individual learners.
“Inclusive education” implies that children
and youth with special educational needs should be included in the educational
arrangements made for the majority of children… Inclusive Schools must
recognize and respond to the diverse needs of students, accommodation of both
different styles and rates of learning and ensuring quality education to all
through appropriate curricula, organizational arrangements, teaching
strategies, resources use and partnerships with their communities.” (UNESCO
–Salamanca Statement, 1994)
UNESCO, in 2006,
describes inclusive education as “ a process of addressing and responding to
the diversity of needs of all learners through inclusive practices 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, 2006)
Rational for Inclusive Education:
1. Inclusive Education: The Growing Trend in Realising Education For All
At present, there is a growing awareness
about inclusive education among educators. In special school concept, the
special education component is a part of the general education system, whereas
in integrated approach, the special education is a part of general education.
Inclusive Education goes one step further. In this approach, the
special education is an integral part of the general education system. The need
for inclusive education has to be viewed in the background of the reality of
services for Children with Visual Impairment in India.
The Real Fact:
v
Education of Children with Visual Impairment is
more than 100 years old but the present service delivery system have not even
covered 5% of the total population of Children with Visual Impairment.
v
When more than 90% of the Children with Visual
Impairment are found in the rural areas, majority of the special schools as
well as integrated education programmes are located in the cities/urban areas.
v
In most villages of the country, Children with
Disabilities (CWD) of different categories are present. As far as the
standardized models such as resource and itinerant models are concerned, on
specialist teacher serves 8 to 10 children with visual impairment. But the
scattered villages in the country do not have adequate number of the same
category of children to justify the appointment of a full time resource
teacher. Therefore, the need for multi-category personnel becomes inevitable.
v
The extent of disability in each category ranges
from mild to severe and profound cases. The mild and moderate cases are more in
number than the severe and profound cases. Due to lack of sensitivity of the
general education to the needs of Children with Visual Impairment, even the
mild and moderate cases are not attending schools. This calls for the
involvement of general education so that the children who are currently left
out of schools can be served.
2. Inclusive Education – The Reality Based Service Delivery System
The present
scenario of special education in India really calls for innovations and
appropriate service delivery strategies. The main features of the inclusive
education are given as follows:
v
Development of the capability of the general
education system to meet the educational needs of children with visual
impairment.
v
Flexibility in programme models to address the
variations found at the state as well as block levels.
v
Maximising educational services for the children
with visual impairment with limited resources.
v
Participation of parents and community in the
planning and execution of the services for the children in general and children
with visual impairment, in particular.
v
Improving the communication between children
with visual impairment and non-disabled children to promote child-to-child
learning.
v
Making the programme for the children with
visual impairment, an integral part of the general educational system rather
than a system within general education.
v
Economical viability for education of children
with visual impairment.
v
Easy approachability of service area so that
children with visual impairment could come to school from home (Status on
Disability in India- 2000, Pp 26-28).
Challenges Towards Inclusive Education For Children with
Visual Impairment:
There are 75 million children around the
world missing out on an education and it is estimated that one-third of those
children have a disability. In fact, it is estimated that 90 per cent of
children with disabilities in developing countries do not go to school. It is
believed that not more than 2–3 per cent of children with disabilities have
access to education (Draft National Policy on Special Education, 2002). The
Rehabilitation Council of India estimates that 30 million disabled children are
in need of education; it aims to educate 10 per cent of all disabled children
by 2020.
Several factors contribute to this exclusion,
including such as:
v the provision of an inadequate additional
curriculum;
v lack of inclusion in the main teaching and
learning processes taking place in the mainstream classroom;
v
lack
of communication and adequate planning by the class teacher and teaching
assistant;
v
lack of proper
understanding of the concept of inclusion;
v
societal attitudes;
v
poverty;
v
insufficient
government leadership;
v
non-availability and
quality of human and material resources;
v
fragmented approaches;
v
lack of appropriate
role models involved in the process, such as Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs); and
v
lack of adequate confidence
building programmes for children with visual impairment.
Some of these issues clearly
overlap and so a holistic approach is needed if the best possible outcome for
children with visual impairment is to be achieved.
Conclusion:
The paper concludes that a twin-track approach to disability
may assist not only in improving educational access for marginalised children,
but also the reconceptualisation of inclusive education as a school quality
issue to benefit all children. This could contribute in the long-term towards
the achievement of Education For All and fulfillment of the Fundamental Right
to Education enshrined in the Constitution of India in 2002.
In summary, if we are to enhance the quality of inclusive
education programmes, then we need a shift in attitudes, government commitment
and action to coordinate all aspects of inclusive education, strong linkages
and good preparation. Formal and informal stakeholders need to be involved at
every stage to ensure successful inclusive education.
References:
Mdikana, A., Ntshangase, S.
& Mayekiso, T. 2007, Pre-Service Educators’ Attitudes Towards Inclusive
Education. International Journal of Special Education, vol. 22(1), p.125
Kundu, C. L. (ed.) 2000,
Status of Disability in India. Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi, chp
1, pp. 3-4
Kundu, C. L. (ed.) 2000,
Status of Disability in India. Rehabilitation Council of India, New Delhi, chp
4, pp. 26-28
Unknown (n.n.), 2010,
Barriers to education: a voice from the field, Sight Severs
International, p. 2
Unknown (n.n.), 2010,
Barriers to education: a voice from the field, Sight Severs
International, p. 6
www.sightsavers.org/.../education/13072_Barriers%20to%20education%20%20a%20voice%20from%20the%20field.pdf
downloaded on 20-10-2010, p. 2
http://www.unesco.org/education/efa/know_sharing/flagship_initiatives/disability_last_version.shtml
downloaded on 20-10-2010
Connie Laurin-Bowie 2009, A Global Report on Education for All, Disability and
Inclusion, Instituto Universitario de Integración en la Comunidad (INICO)
Salamanca, Spain, chp 2, pp. 31-32
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