Page 206 - DEDU506_SPECIAL_EDUCATION_ENGLISH

Special Education

Notes 28.1.1 Objectives of policies on inclusive education
1. The governments have to give the highest policy and budgetary priority to improve their
education systems to enable them to include all children regardless of individual differences or
difficulties.
2. The governments have to adopt as a matter of law or policy the principle of inclusive education,
enrolling all children in regular schools unless there are compelling reasons for doing otherwise.
3. The training programmes for the teachers have to include the education of disabled children.
4. All children have access to general education system, to expand the coverage to reach the
unreached population.
28.1.2 Need of Inclusive Education
UNESCO (1994) states that `All children learn together, whatever possible, regardless of any difficulties
or differences they may have. Inclusive schools must recognise and respond to the diverse needs of
their students, accommodating both different styles and rates of learning and ensuing quality education
to all through appropriate curricula, organisational arrangements, teaching strategies, resource use
and partnerships with their communities'. Inclusive education promotes child-to-child learning and
participation of parents and community in planning and execution of services for children in general
and disabled children in particular.
28.1.3 Some Pioneering Experiments
In several parts of India, the Project Integrated Education for the Disabled (PIED) has been functioning
since 1987. A Composite Area Approach (CAA) is followed where regular classroom teachers, specialist
teachers, parents and community members jointly work in the programme. The regular teachers are
given training in handling disabled children.
Self Assessment

1. Fill in the blanks:
(i) Children in ..................... were seen as a geographically and socially segregated from their
peers.
(ii) There is little engagement with the commutations of ............ and teacher flexibility for all
children.
(iii) The Project Integrated Education for the Disabled has been functioning since ............

28.2 Mainstreaming

Mainstreaming is an inclusive form of education in which students are taught in a comprehensive
school system. Special education is available for students with special needs, but the goal is for the
majority of students and those with special needs to learn in the same classroom whenever possible.
Students with medical and physical disabilities are protected by and may still receive special
accommodations at school, such as adaptive equipment, but they do not receive special education
unless they show educational need.
By the late 1980s, after additional observation and research, many educators and parents favored the
merging of special and regular education into a comprehensive school system. Advocates pointed
out that a dual system did not meet students' needs, was inefficient to administer, and promoted
inappropriate attitudes toward students with disabilities.
Advocates were more interested in increasing the ability of mainstream education to meet the needs
of all students, rather than spending time classifying students to see who should be in the mainstream.
School districts found themselves on shifting ground. They had to understand and accommodate
students with special needs, without creating a counterproductive separate-but-equal atmosphere.
Autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities,
orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, serious emotional disturbance, special learning

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