BARRIERS TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION The education system in India has compromised on many levels.

We no longer see the child as priority. We have become very conscious of the need to educate our children but it is hardly academic motivation, which generates this interest but rather an economic motivation. Education is largely seen as the route to white collar jobs and this is due to our present education system, which has molded generations to the thinking that all worth is measured in terms of money. Very often the knowledge of the English language becomes the measure of this worth. So, Inclusive education in India, needs must contend with the present system of education, which is provided under the Integrated Education Program for children with mild disabilities in a regular school and the special school for the more severely disabled child under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implemented through state governments and NGOs. Some questions will inevitably have to be confronted. Perhaps the most important is not whether inclusive education is relevant for us in India but the problems associated with its implementation. ? A major deterrent has been the lack of statistics on the prevalence of intellectual disability. Surveys conducted by the NSSO ( National Sample Survey) in 2002 and the Census in 2001 show varying figures with the NSSO quoting 1.8% ( 1.85 crore of the countrys population) and the census quoting 2.19% of the population. ( 2.19 crore ) .The large number of children inmost schools is another reason since most of our schools except the elitist ones have classes where student teacher ratio is anywhere between 40 to 60. What passes for education in most free educational institutions offering services to the poor and even in some middle class communities catering to a major chunk of educable children can hardly earn the title of quality. The disparity between elite educational institutions and their poorer counterparts are too glaring even to be mentioned. However, the journey towards Inclusive education has begun and is a reality since the mind set of government and the general public by and large has changed. In tracing the evolution of education in India one needs must begin with the system of general education and its beginnings of what today we loosely term education as it was understood and practiced in ancient India. The earliest recorded system of education per se is found in the Rig Veda, which broadly deals with the philosophy of life and the practices in learning (generally spea ing, the word Veda means to now.! It is called the Vedic "ra in the history of education in India and is thought to be almost #$$$ years old. During this period education revolved around the system of Gurukuls. These Gurukuls or Rishikulas were the seats of learning and students were required to live with their guru or teacher and learn by precept as much as by actual study and debates. In this ancient system of education (the guru-shishya parampara) all children were taught together, be it under a shady tree or in the Gurukul (school ) ,whether normal, gifted or physically or intellectually disabled and were seen as worthy of the benefits of education, each according to her or his abilities. It was inclusive education in the truest sense. There were no special schools catering exclusively to specific disabilities or learning difficulties. Students found incapable of academic learning were given options to learn other occupations, which they could do easily, such as tending cattle, gardening or housework. This was rightly seen as an opportunity to be usefully employed and was not thought derogatory but prevented the hierarchy of the educated and the uneducated. IIt is argued that providing for persons with disability was based on the theory of %arma and a way towards a better life in the ne&t birth .'hatever the motivation the fact remains that even as far bac as ()* +, mention has been made of mental retardation (-arba .panishad! ,/atan0ali included disabled persons for yoga therapy, and in the 1 th and #th , +, .during the 2aurya 3ynasty, %autilya passed an edict banning both verbal and behavioral abuse of persons with disabilities recogni4ing their right to property and employment . 5ater %ing 6sho a established hospitals and asylums .+ut a significant milestone was around the (st , +., according to a legend which tells us the story of a ing who was told that his three sons were dull witted. The crucial 7uestion now was 'ho would loo after his ingdom after the ing was no more8 9o, he began a nation wide hunt for someone who would be able to tutor his dull witted sons. The search ended, we are told , with Visnusarman a courtier who assured the ing that he would devise special ways of teaching the royal pupils .The legend goes on to tell us of how Visnusarman developed his strategy for education using a collection of animal fables , which taught the princes matters related to diplomacy and values honored universally This resulted in The /anchatantra , the ancient Indian collection of animal fables from around ($$$ +,, and is perhaps the first boo on special education. So, in India, we have a rich cultural legacy for inclusive education and India has always been and is

still today an inclusive society in the sense that a very wide variety of cultural and religious beliefs exist side by side. Even today, small rural schools provide education for all children under one roof, little realizing that they are following a system of education newly rediscovered in the West termed Inclusive Education. The tragic fact seems to be that somewhere on our way towards modernization we have lost this unique system of education. The Vedic Period was followed by a period when Brahmanic influences took gradual control and the unfortunate caste system took root ,which undermined the earlier inclusive approach to inclusive into one of discrimination .The spread of the caste system introduced unhealthy attitudes and practices and was at least in part the cause for the reforms preached by the Buddha . Buddhist philosophy and Budhas teachings influenced the education system giving rise to Viharas or Maths and became the centers of learning replacing the Gurukuls . In 712 A.D.when Mohamed Bin Kasim (an Arab) invaded India, he brought with him the Muslim influence and this can be seen as the beginning of the Muslim Period. Many Madrasas (schools) and Maktabs ( attached to Mosques) were established, primarily to teach the religion of Islam but gradually replaced the ancient Indian institutions of learning, which at that time was considered so highly by the outside world that many illustrious visitors flocked to these schools of learning .The main digression from the established system of education, both during the Vedic as well as the Buddhist period was the shift from a completely independent system to one dependant on the largesse of individual rulers and philanthropists. During the period of the Mughal dynasty , which followed the Muslim period , education made great progress since most of the rajas (kings) and in particular Akbar the great saw education as secular and were dedicated to the cause of education.. IMPAPOST INDEPENDENCE When India became free of the British colonizers in 1947 a partitioned and badly scarred nation needed to begin social reconstruction. The government began to become formally involved in policy decisions at a national level and in 1953 the Central Social Welfare Board was formed between 1960 and 1975 several committees were appointed to recommend a national policy which specifically focused on the needs of children from low socio economic areas. This resulted in the formulation in 1974 of the National Policy for Children as also the National Childrens Board. The major achievement was however the launch of the ICDS program also in 1974, The Integrated Child Development Program, (ICDS) as a part of Indias Fifth five year plan. This is an excellent concept but the prime initial objectives were the decrease in infant mortality and training women in health care and nutrition .It broadened its scope only in 1975 to include a psychosocial component on non formal early childhood education but as just one of the total of 6 components it was designed to support. The DPEP the District Primary Education Program, which followed focused on integration in the areas of teacher training, removing architectural barriers and in providing appropriate aids and did fare better but was unable to include a vast majority of children with disabilities in mainstream education. (Pandey and Advani.1995). It was recognized by the government that people with disabilities have the same right to education as other citizens but the needs of a nation grappling with a myriad problems, poverty and sheer survival needs of its people made it difficult to sustain focus on the development of services for disabilities. In 1974, a major shift in education for the child with disability was achieved with the launch of the comprehensive Integrated Education for the Disabled Child (IEDC) The aim was to provide children with moderate disabilities with both facilities and financial support. This was implemented in 15,000 schools in 26 states and union territories and reportedly covered 65,000 children with disabilities in mainstream schools. In a bid towards the implementation of this project, the Government launched Project Integrated Education Development (PIED), which provided teacher training, methodology for identification of children and school facilities as support services. . However a major criticism against this was that it covered only the mild and moderately disabled who were admitted in schools undetected as disabled and that it did not cover preschool children .It was also not specifically geared to children with intellectual disabilities. It was therefore withdrawn but it did provide learning experience in that it nudged policy makers closer to the concept of integration as a first step which led later to rethinking education services and to the formulation of inclusive practices. It was only in 1986 when the Parliament of India adopted the National Policy on Education (NPE) that for the first time equality of opportunity was formally stated as a goal of education and the phrase education for the handicapped was used .( The first National Policy on Education (NPE) of

independent India was passed in1968 but had to be reformulated in 1985 since it lacked financial and organizational support) .But at this time the policy advocated only the integration of children with loco motor disabilities and others with mild disabilities in mainstream schools. It also enabled the

setting up of a team of experts under the Chairmanship of Behrul Islam in 1987 to study the problems of disabled children and became the core of the comprehensive legislation provided later in the Disabilities Act of 1995. Children in general became the special focus of the government only when The Ministry of Education set up by the British was later divided into the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Human Resource Development .Children with disability were recognized as needing specialized care and disability was specifically put under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. But the central body for formulating and implementing educational policies is the Department of Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) even though policy is formulated by the Center .Thus two Ministries dealing with the same group of people with separate policies has given rise to some dualism creating ambiguity. The negative fallout is that education for children with intellectual disability is clubbed together with other disability issues and viewed as a welfare measure and not an educational issue .It forms just one among the host of other responsibilities taken up by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, such as issues pertaining to scheduled caste, tribes, women, and people with disabilities in general. Children with disability form just one of the categories of people who are clubbed together under what is termed Disadvantaged Groups. This group comprises of a variety of people with diverse needs and those with disability are seen primarily as requiring rehabilitation with education forming a small part of the overall rehabilitation scheme. The 2inistry of 9ocial :ustice and "mpowerment provides assistance through grant in aid schemes to voluntary organi4ations and these could cover education if applied for .6ssistance up to ;$< in urban areas and up to ;# < in rural areas is provided for setting up special schools and other service delivery programs for education. 6 recent survey of organi4ations wor ing for the disabled shows about =,1#> ?-@As and (,=$$ special schools (-@I.(;;1!. It is also documented that only ($< of people with disabilities are covered under the -overnments -rant in 6id 9chemes leaving a ma0or chun of services to be provided by Voluntary agencies. Inadvertently this has delayed putting the issue of disability on the national agenda. 9o, while there have been contradictions in the government ideologies and conceptuali4ation as far as education of the disabled child goes, some ma0or issues have been dealt with imagination and a 7uite a few initiatives for school going children with disability have been tried with some being successful and some which failed. THE LEGAL CONTEXT The Constitution of India does not explicitly include children with disabilities in the provisions made for education , but Article 41 does mention people with disabilities and says in part the State shall within the limits of its economic development make effective provisions for securing the right to work , to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment ,old age, sickness ,disablement and in other cases of undesired want. It does not mandate the free and compulsory education as a fundamental right and is merely a directive principle to guide state policy but Article 45 does rectify this by stating that free and compulsory education should be provided for ALL children until they complete the age of 14 The ALL is never specifically explained. But the most recent 93rd amendment to the Indian Constitution passed in December 2001, affirms the Governments commitment to (EFA) or Education for All. In Sanskrit it is Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) .The preamble explicitly states that this includes children with disabilities. This policy aims at all children in the 6 to 14 age group being ale to complete eight years of schooling by the year 2010. The SSA gives importance to early childhood care and education and appropriate intervention for children with special needs and also and makes special reference to the education of the girl child. The positive factor is the change incorporated in the Education Act by adding a pertinent clause which clarifies that ALL includes children with disabilities. On the 21st of March 2005, the Hon. Minister of Human Resource Development in the Rajya Sabha presented a comprehensive statement on the subject of inclusive education of children with disabilities . U.N.CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITY It is heartening that the most recent, the UN Convention on rights of persons with disability in January 2005, has allowed non state parties unprecedented participation rights in the discussion of the Convention at the level of the UN. However it is important to understand that the Convention on 3isability Rights was re7uired despite other Buman Rights instruments already e&isting because these earlier conventions had not addressed the concerns of persons with disabilities themselves .It is also recogni4ed now that the earlier 3isability Rights conventions such as the 9tandard Rules on "7uali4ation of @pportunities for /ersons with 3isabilities , had confined themselves to what is called soft laws ,which have only a persuasive value .The fact is that the 3isability movement internationally has far outgrown the paternalistic and protective ideology which finds

e&pression in the conventions of theA>$As such as the 3eclaration of Rights of people with 3isabilities and the 3eclaration of the Rights of /ersons with 2ental Retardation. The ,onvention also presents a uni7ue opportunity to e&amine the dichotomy brought into e&istence by earlier conventions on civilCpolitical and socioCeconomic rights and to move on to foster indivisibility of human rights ( 6mita 3anda ..? ,onvention ,onsultative meeting! BARRIERS TO INCLUSIVE EDUCATION The education system in India has compromised on many levels. We no longer see the child as priority. We have become very conscious of the need to educate our children but it is hardly academic motivation, which generates this interest but rather an economic motivation. Education is largely seen as the route to white collar jobs and this is due to our present education system, which has molded generations to the thinking that all worth is measured in terms of money. Very often the knowledge of the English language becomes the measure of this worth. So, Inclusive education in India, needs must contend with the present system of education, which is provided under the Integrated Education Program for children with mild disabilities in a regular school and the special school for the more severely disabled child under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implemented through state governments and NGOs. 9ome 7uestions will inevitably have to be confronted. /erhaps the most important is not whether inclusive education is relevant for us in India but the problems associated with its implementation. 8 6 ma0or deterrent has been the lac of statistics on the prevalence of intellectual disability. 9urveys conducted by the ?99@ ( ?ational 9ample 9urvey! in =$$= and the ,ensus in =$$( show varying figures with the ?99@ 7uoting (.)< ( (.)# crore of the countryAs population! and the census 7uoting =.(;< of the population. ( =.(; crore ! .The large number of children inmost schools is another reason since most of our schools e&cept the elitist ones have classes where student teacher ratio is anywhere between 1$ to >$. 'hat passes for education in most free educational institutions offering services to the poor and even in some middle class communities catering to a ma0or chun of educable children can hardly earn the title of 7uality. The disparity between elite educational institutions and their poorer counterparts are too glaring even to be mentioned. Bowever, the 0ourney towards Inclusive education has begun and is a reality since the mind set of government and the general public by and large has changed.