Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697750386464.pdf (India)
A Study of Inclusiveness of Schools at the Elementary Level Anita Julka Professor, Department of Education of Groups with Special Needs National Council of Educational Research & Training Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016 CONTENTS Pg Nos.
Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Methodology 18 Chapter 3 Results 21 Chapter 4 Findings and Discussion 70 ANNEXURE Chapter 1 Introduction In his vision of and reflections on the inclusive school, Wedell (1995)1 emphasized the starting- point as the acceptance that all children are different.

The basic aim of inclusive schooling is to consider the learning needs of all the children; differences must not be hidden or denied, rather they should be brought into the open and made visible.
In a school striving to embrace the diversity and differences of its pupils’ learning needs, children with special needs (CWSN) will be a natural part of that diversity.

If the school system is organized to embrace such diversity, children and young people with special needs will not be singled out or stigmatized.

Keeping the benefits of inclusive education in mind, Policy initiatives all over the world have put inclusive education as one of the major global agenda for reforms.
India is no exception to this reform and recently the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, (RPWD Act), 20162 has given an operational definition of inclusive education as stated below: “Inclusive education” means a system of education wherein students with and without disability learn together and the system of teaching and learning is suitably adapted to meet the learning needs of different types of students with disabilities” The definition given above conceptualizing inclusive education to be limited to including children with disabilities (CWD) along with other children.
However, the interpretation of the concept remains ambiguous, varying from ‘inclusion as concerned with disability and “special educational needs (SEN)”’ to ‘inclusion as a principled approach to education and society’ (Ainscow, Booth, and Dyson 2006).3 The Policy and legislation in India presently focuses on the first typology and aims to include more and more CWD in mainstream regular schools to end their segregation.
India has also been signatory to international declarations like the Salamanca Statement and framework for action on special needs education (1994)4, Biwako Millennium Framework for Action (2002)5 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 1 Wedell, K. (1995) Making inclusive education ordinary: a national perspective, British Journal of Special Education, 22(3), 100–104.

2The Disabilities Retrieed (2016).


(RPWD from: Act), Act, of Rights Persons with http://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A2016-49_1.pdf 3 Ainscow, M., T. Booth, and A. Dyson.

(2006).

Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion.

Abingdon: Routledge.


4 The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (1994): Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Downloads/098427engo.pdf 5 Biwako millennium framework for action towards an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities in Asia and the pacific.

Retrieved from: http://scm.oas.org/pdfs/2006/CP17271e.pdf 1 20066 that emphasize the need for fundamental educational policy shifts to enable general schools to include CWD.
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005)7 recommends making the curriculum flexible and appropriate to accommodate the diversity of school children including those with disabilities in both cognitive and non-cognitive areas.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides a justifiable legal framework that entitles all children between the ages of 6-14 years free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education.
It provides for children’s right to an education of equitable quality, based on principles of equity and non discrimination.

Most importantly, it provides for children’s right to an education that is free from fear, stress and anxiety.

While the RTE Act mandates inclusion of CwSN, some of these children are unable to attend school despite specific interventions designed for their education.

The amendment of RTE Act (in August 2012) has included CwSN in the definition of disadvantaged groups.
It includes children with severe - multiple disabilities with the right to opt for Home Based Education (HBE), thus creating an enabling environment for the children.

Recently, the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan: An Integrated Scheme for School Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) includes a Chapter (chapter 4) on inclusion of CWSN in education.
The following are the major highlights from chapter 4 for framework of implementation: Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in Education The Integrated Scheme on School Education aims to look at education of all children including children with Special Needs (CwSN) in a continuum from pre nursery to class XII.
The scheme will cover all children with special needs with one or more disabilities as mentioned in the schedule of disabilities of the Right of the Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016 studying in Government, Government-aided and local body schools.
The scheme stresses on working in convergence with all the line Departments/ Ministries and intends to provide relevant holistic support for effective and appropriate services The objectives of the scheme are:  Identification of CWD at the school level and assessment of her/his educational needs.

on the 6Convention https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf 7 NCERT, (2005).

National Curriculum Framework.


Retrieved from: https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/nc-framework/nf2005- english.pdf Persons with Disabilities Retrieved (2006) Rights from of : 2  Provision of aids and appliances, assistive devices, to the children with special needs as per requirement.

 Removal of architectural barriers in schools so that students with disability classrooms, laboratories, libraries and toilets in the school.
 Supplying appropriate teaching learning materials, medical facilities, vocational training support, guidance and counseling services and therapeutic services to children with special needs as per his/her requirement in convergence with line departments.

 General school teachers will be sensitized and trained to teach and involve children with special needs in the general classroom.

For existing special educators, capacity building programmes will be undertaken.
CwSN will have access to support services through special educators, establishment of resource rooms, vocational education, therapeutic services and counseling  The Components of the Scheme are: Student oriented components: The student oriented component may be utilized for specified items like:- (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) Identification and assessment of CWD.

Provision of aids and appliances, medical services, diagnostic services etc.
Access to and development of teaching learning material as per requirement etc.

Provision of facilities like transport/escort facilities, hostel facilities, scholarship, assistive devices, support staff (readers, amanuensis) etc.

Provision of large print text book, Braille books and uniform allowances.

Stipend for Girl Students @ Rs.

200 per month for 10 months to encourage their participation in the school system.
The use of ICT to increase access to a vast amount of information not otherwise available.

(viii) Awareness and motivation camps 3 Resource support For providing resource support to CwSN, the existing human resource appointed under SSA and RMSA will be rationalized and the remaining vacancies to be filled through fresh appointment as per the norms provided at Annexure III.

All educators should be registered with Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI).
These educators should mandatorily be available for all CwSN including the children with high support needs as well.

The educators may be posted at the block or cluster level or as per the requirement and can operate in an itinerant mode, covering a group of schools where children with special needs are enrolled.
Key areas of the Inclusive Education Component The exam reforms to be made by Central and State Boards for CwSN, according to the scheme, would be disability specific, (for example, oral exam for children with specific learning disability, extra time for children with visual impairment, low vision and cerebral palsy etc) .

A regular audit of existing textbooks from Gender and CwSN lens will be a priority for an apt curriculum.
4 Review of Literature Research on Inclusive schools and the strategies that make these schools beneficial for all students have been conducted all over the world.

Before we review the studies on various strategies we will highlight the researches carried out to highlight the benefits of inclusive education (IE) or of having inclusive schools wherein all students with or without disabilities study together.
Benefits of IE A significant body of research indicates that students with disabilities benefit academically and socially from inclusive education (Affleck, Madge, Adams, & Lowenbraun, 1988; Daniel & King, 1997; Huber, Rosenfeld, & Fiorello, 2001; Hunt, Staub, Alwell, & Goetz, 1994; Mastropieri et al., 1998; McDonnell et al., 2003; Saint-Laurent et al., 1998; Shinn, Powell- Smith, Good, & Baker, 1997; Stevens & Slavin, 1995; Waldron & McLeskey, 1998)8.
Prior research suggests that students with disabilities who learn in general education settings score higher in reading and mathematics than student with disabilities who learn in self- contained settings (Fryxell & 8 Affl eck , J. Q. , Madge , S. , Adams , A. , & Lowenbraun , S.( 1988 ).

Integrated classroom versus resource model: Academic viability and effectiveness .

Exceptional Children , 54( 4 ), 339 – 349 .

 Daniel , L. G.& King , D.

A.

( 1997 ).


Impact of inclusion education on academic achievement, student behavior and self- esteem, and parental attitudes .

The Journal of Educational Research, 91( 2 ), 67 – 80.

 Huber , K. D. , Rosenfeld , J. G. , & Fiorello , C.

A.

( 2001 ).

The differential impact of inclusion and inclusive practices on high, average, and low achieving general education students .

Psychology in the Schools, 38( 6 ), 497 – 504 .


 Hunt , P. , Staub , D. , Alwell , M. , & Goetz , L.( 1994 ).

Achievement by all students within the context of cooperative learning groups .

Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 19( 4 ), 290 – 301 .

 Mastropieri , M. A. , Scruggs , T. E. , Mantzicopoulos , P. , Sturgeon , A. , Goodwin , L. , & Chung , S. ( 1998 ).
“ A place where living things effect and depend on each other”: Qualitative and quantitative outcomes associated with inclusive science teaching .

Science Education, 82( 2 ), 163 – 179.

 McDonnell , J. , Thorson , N. , Disher , S. , Mathot-Buckner , C. , Mendel , J. , & Ray , L.( 2003 ).

The achievement of students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities in inclusive settings .

Education and Treatment of Children, 26( 3 ), 224 – 236.
 Saint-Laurent , L. , Dionne , J. , Giasson , J. , Royer , G. , Simard , C. , & Pierard , B.

( 1998 ).

Academic achievement effects of an in- class service model on students with and without disabilities .

Exceptional Children, 64( 2 ), 239 – 253 .

 Shinn , M. K. , Powell-Smith , K. A. , Good , R. H. , & Baker , S.( 1997 ).

The effects of reintegration into general education reading instruction for students with mild disabilities .

Exceptional Children, 64( 1 ), 59 – 79.


 Stevens , R. J.& Slavin , R. E.( 1995 ).

The cooperative elementary school: Effects on students’ achievement, attitudes, and social relations .

American Educational Research Journal, 32( 2 ), 321 – 351 .

 Waldron , N. L.& McLeskey , J.

( 1998 ).

The effects of an inclusive school program of students with mild and severe learning disabilities .

Exceptional Children, 64( 3 ), 395 – 405 .

5 Kennedy, 1995; Rea, McLaughlin, & Walther-Thomas, 2002)9.
The results are similar for social and behavioral achievement (Agran et al., 2002; Fisher, Pumpian, & Sax, 1998).

Research has also shown that when students with disabilities are included, teachers work to create strength- based classrooms, increase student access to resources and technology, implement differentiation, and teach skills of collaboration and interdependence (Kasa- Hendrickson & Ashby, 2009)10.
When students with disabilities are included, not only does the achievement rise, but learning opportunities are also strengthened for all (Causton-Theoharis, Theoharis, Bull, Cosier, & Demph-Aldrich, 2011)11.

Baker and colleagues reviewed three meta analyses that addressed the issue of the most effective setting for the education of students with disabilities.

A small-to-moderate positive effect for inclusive placement was found in all three meta-analyses (Baker, Wang, & Walberg, 1994)12.
Waldron, Cole, and Majd (2001)13 investigated the effects of inclusive programmes for students with high incidence disabilities and their typical peers.

This two-year study found that 41.7% of students with learning disabilities made progress in math in general education classes compared to 34% in traditional special education settings, without the presence of nondisabled peers.

Gains in reading were comparable in both settings.
When comparing progress with their typical peers, 43.3% of students with disabilities made comparable or greater progress in math in inclusive settings versus 35.9% in traditional settings The National Longitudinal Transition Study examined the outcomes of 11,000 students with a range of disabilities and found that more time spent in a general education classroom was positively correlated with: a) Fewer absences from school, b) Fewer referrals for disruptive behavior, and 9 Fryxell , D.& Kennedy , C. H.( 1995 ).
Placement along the continuum of services and its impact on students’ social relationships .

The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 20( 4 ), 259 – 269  Rea , P. J. , McLaughlin , V. L. , & Walther-Thomas , C.( 2002 ).

Outcomes for students with learning disabilities in inclusive and pullout programs .

Exceptional Children, 68( 2 ), 203 – 222 .

10 Kasa-Hendrickson , C. , Buswell , B. , & Harmon , J.

( 2009 ) The IEP: A Tool for Realizing Possibilities.
A Toolkit Developed for PEAK Parent Center.

Colorado Springs : PEAK Parent Center .

11 Causton-Theoharis , J. , Theoharis , G. , Bull , T. , Cosier , M. , & Dempf-Aldrich , K.( 2011 ).

Schools of promise: A school district- university partnership centered on inclusive school reform .

Remedial and Special Education, 32( 3), 192 – 205 .

12 Baker, E. T., Wang, M. C., & Walberg, H. J.

(1994/1995).

Synthesis of research: The effects of inclusion on learning.

Educational Leadership, 52, 33–35.


13 Waldron, N., Cole, C., & Majd, M. (2001).

The academic progress of students across inclusive and traditional settings: A two year study Indiana inclusion study.

Bloomington, IN: Indiana Institute on Disability & Community.

6 c) Better outcomes after high school in the areas of employment and independent living (Wagner, Newman, Cameto, & Levine, 2006)14.
Fisher and Meyer (2002)15 conducted a two-year longitudinal study to examine social competence for 40 students with severe disabilities in inclusive and self contained classrooms.

Students in the inclusive settings had significantly higher mean scores on the ASC (Assessment of Social Competence) after a two-year period, and although students in self-contained classrooms made gains, they were not statistically significant.
Falvey (2004)16 notes that “no studies conducted since the late 1970’s have shown an academic advantage for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities educated in separate settings.” Mieghem, A.V, Verschueren, K., Petry, K. and Struyf, K (2018)17 carried out a systematic search and meta review of research on inclusive education (IE).

The review outlined five main themes that emerged from the selected articles on IE.
Four of these are regarding substantive aspects of the implementation of IE: attitudes towards IE, (input), teachers’ professional development on IE (input), IE practices (process) and student participation (outcome).

Some of the relevant studies under these 4 themes are given below.

The final theme addresses aspects of conducting research into IE.
Similar student engagement outcomes were reported in a study involving nine elementary students with severe disabilities who were observed in both special and general education settings.

General education classrooms delivered more instruction, provided a comparable amount of 1:1 instruction time, addressed content more, and used non-disabled peers more and adults less (Helmstetter, Curry, Brennan, & Sampson-Saul, 1998)18.

14 Wagner, M., Newman, L., Cameto, R., and Levine, P. (2006).
The Academic Achievement and Functional Performance of Youth with Disabilities: A Report from the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2).

(NCSER 2006-3000).

Menlo Park, CA: SRI International 15 Fisher, M., & Meyer, L. H. (2002).

Development and social competence after two years for students enrolled in inclusive and self-contained educational programs.

Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 27(3), 165–174.

doi:10.2511/rpsd.27.3.165 16 Falvey, M. (2004).


Towards realizing the influence of “Toward realization of the least restrictive environments for severely disabled students.” Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 29(1), 9-10.

17 Mieghem, A. V., K. Verschueren, K. Petry, and E. Struyf.

(2018).

Education: Review.” Systematic Education.

doi:10.1080/13603116.2018.1482012.

18 Helmstetter, E., Curry, C.A., Brennan, M., & Sampson-Saul, M. (1998).
Comparison of general and special education classrooms of students with severe disabilities.

Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 33, 216-227 “An Analysis of Research on Inclusive Inclusive International and Meta Journal Search of A 7 Attitudes towards IE Loreman (2014)19 emphasises that positive attitudes towards IE and students with SEN of all actors involved in IE are vital to create a school climate that embraces difference.
These actors include teachers, parents and typically developing students.

According to the study of de Boer, Pijl, and Minnaert (2011)20, ‘teachers are negative or undecided in their beliefs about IE and do not rate themselves as knowledgeable about educating pupils with special needs.

A study carried out by Julka and Bharati (2014)21 assessed the needs of teachers in inclusive schools.
Data with the help of tools was collected from 174 regular school teachers and 20 resource teachers, along with 63 CWSN and 77 parents from seven States.

The results highlighted that majority of CWSN liked coming to schools but the teachers faced a number of challenges in meeting the special needs of these children.

The study indicated the need for better training of teachers, better facilities in terms of infrastructure and support services and better acceptance of CWSN by teachers and other students.
It also highlighted poor collaboration between special teachers, teachers and parents.

Professional development of teachers fostering IE (input) Kurniawati et al.

(2014) found that the following training programmes had positive effects on mainstream primary teachers.

All programmes had common characteristics, such as the relatively short length, 200 minutes to 56 hours; the integration of field experiences; direct and systematic contact with SEN students; and a focus on attitude, knowledge and skills.
Training programmes focusing on specific student needs or disabilities were found to be more effective than general training programmes.

It is suggested that tools and strategies, related to specific teachers’ concerns and their teaching context (e.g.

curriculum), are the most helpful and effective in encouraging change in teachers’ practice (Kurniawati et al.

2014; Roberts and Simpson 2016)22 19 Loreman, T. (2014).

Measuring inclusive education outcomes in Alberta, Canada.
International Journal of Inclusive Education 18 (5): 459-483. doi:10.1080/13603116.2013.788223.

20 de Boer, A., S. J. Pijl, and A. Minnaert.

(2011).

Regular primary school teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education: A review of the literature.

International Journal of Inclusive Education.

15, 3, p. 331-353 23 p., 927392787.

21 Julka, A. and Bharati (2014).

Teachers Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Issues and Challenges.

NCERT, New Delhi.
NCERT, New Delhi.

22 Kurniawati, F., De Boer, A., Minnaert, A. E. M. G., & Mangunsong, F. (2014).

Characteristics of primary teacher training programmes on inclusion: A literature focus.

Educational Research, 56, 310–326.

 Roberts, J., & Simpson, K. (2016).

Stakeholders perspectives on inclusion of students with autism in mainstream schools.

International Journal of Inclusive Education.


doi: 10.1080/13603116.2016.1145267 8 In addition, it has been stated that to deal with the diversity among children in the schools of today, teacher education and systematic teacher development are critical, and it is therefore likely that teacher education is one of the first steps in the achievement of inclusive education23.
Practices enhancing IE (process) Loreman (2014) points out that ‘inclusion is realized mainly at the classroom level.’ Within the selected reviews, eight described practices that foster IE (De Vroey, Struyf, and Petry 2016; Fluijt, Bakker, and Struyf 2016; Giangreco, Suter, and Doyle 2010; Kaya, Blake, and Chan 2015; Qi and Ha 2012; Reichrath, de Witte, and Winkens 2010; Roberts and Simpson 2016; Watkins et al.

2015)24.
2015)24.

Practices to enhance IE for SEN students can be divided into two categories; additional support by teachers and support by peers.

Collaboration According to Fluijt, Bakker, and Struyf (2016), to implement co-teaching models effectively, training for teachers is required and organisational aspects should be considered, such as training and time for co-planning, co-instruction, co-assessment, and co-reflection.
Effective co- teaching strategies focus directly on student learning goals and provide adequate planned Instruction.

23 Pijil, J. S., Hegarty, S., and Meijer, C. (1997).

New Perspectives in Special Education.

London: Routledge 24 De Vroey, A., E. Struyf, and K. Petry.

(2016).

Secondary schools included: a literature review.

International Journal of Inclusive Education 20 (2): 109-135. doi:10.1080/13603116.2015.1075609.

 Fluijt, D., C. Bakker, and E. Struyf.

(2016).


Team-reflection: the missing link in co-teaching teams.

European Journal of Special Needs Education 31 (2): 187-201. doi:10.1080/08856257.2015.1125690.

 Giangreco, M. F., J. C. Suter, , and M. B. Doyle.

(2010).

Paraprofessionals in inclusive schools: A review of recent 41-57.

Psychological Consultation Educational and (1): 20 of research.

Journal doi:10.1080/10474410903535356.

 Kaya, C., J. Blake, , and F. Chan.

(2015).


Peer‐mediated interventions with elementary and secondary school students with emotional and behavioural disorders: a literature review.

Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 15 (2): 120-129. doi:10.1111/1471- 3802.12029.

 Qi, J., and A. S. Ha.

(2012).

Inclusion in Physical Education: A review of literature.

International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 59 (3): 257-281. doi:10.1080/1034912X.2012.697737.
 Reichrath, E., L. P. de Witte, and I. Winkens.

(2010).

Interventions in general education for students with (6): 563-580. inclusive education 14 International journal of review.

disabilities: a systematic doi:10.1080/13603110802512484.

 Watkins, L., M. O’Reilly, M. Kuhn, C. Gevarter, G. E. Lancioni, J. Sigafoos, R. and R. Lang.

(2015).

A review of peer-mediated social interaction interventions for students with autism in inclusive settings.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders 45 (4): 1070-1083. doi:10.1007/s10803- 014-2264-x.

9 Jackson and colleagues reported that collaboration was often cited as a foundation to the implementation of inclusive education (Jackson, Ryndak, & Billingsley, 2000)25.

Collaboration among teachers and related service providers is also a critical factor in implementing effective inclusive education.
Soto and colleagues found that general educators who have regular opportunities to collaborate and consult with professional peers show evidence of increased instructional skills as well as decreased tendencies to make referrals to special education (Soto, Müller, Hunt, & Goetz, 2001)26.

Two studies by Hunt and colleagues further document the effectiveness of collaboration as a strategy for improving student outcomes in inclusive settings.
In both studies, researchers document the successful teaming of teachers, related service providers, and parents in implementing support plans for students with severe disabilities and typical peers considered academically at-risk.

Teams met on a monthly basis to delineate specific instructional adaptations and support strategies for students.
Consistent implementation of these plans resulted in increases in academic skills, engagement in class activities, interactions with peers, and student-initiated interactions for all students (Hunt, Doering, Hirose-hatae, Maier, & Goetz, 2001; Hunt, Soto, Maier, & Doering, 2003)27.
Support by peers for SEN students A peer-mediated intervention is ‘a peer-to-peer social dynamic in which didactic instruction occurs in the context of a positive social relationship that facilitates experiential social skills learning and practice’ .It is indicated that these interventions can enhance desired behavioural change in a rather short period of time (3–6 weeks).
Positive results of peer support practices were shown for increasing social skills of students with emotional and behavioural disorders (Kaya, Blake, and Chan 2015; Watkins et al.

2015).

Reichrath, de Witte, and Winkens (2010) concluded that peer-mediated intervention is also a feasible strategy to increase reading comprehension and phonological skills of students with reading and/or moderate learning disabilities.
In several studies focused on students with mild disabilities, the use of peer mediated strategies results in improved academic outcomes for all 25 Jackson, Ryndak, & Billingsley, (2000).Defining School Inclusion for Students With Moderate to Severe Disabilities: What Do Experts Say?
Exceptionality 8(2):101-116 DOI: 10.1207/S15327035EX0802_2 26 Soto, Müller, Hunt, & Goetz, (2001) .Critical issues in the inclusion of students who use augmentative and alternative communication: An educational team perspective.

June 2001.

Augmentative & Alternative Communication 17(2):62–72 .DOI: 10.1080/714043369.

27 Hunt, Soto, Maier, and Doering.

(2003).

Collaborative Teaming to Support Students at Risk and Students with Severe Disabilities in General Education Classrooms.
by, Exceptional Children, Vol.

69, No.

3, , pp.

315-332 10 students including those considered at-risk academically (Sailor, 2002)28.

Studies investigated the use of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) as a method for improving academic outcomes for students with high incidence disabilities and struggling typical peers.
Features of PALS include reciprocal tutoring roles, opportunities to respond and experience success, structured activities, and supplemental practice of skills taught in the core curriculum.
Fifteen years of pilot studies, component analyses, and large-scale experiments have shown improvement in the reading achievement of low, average, and high achieving students incidence disabilities (McMaster, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 2007)29. including those with high Furthermore, greater social acceptance is reported for students with learning disabilities in classrooms using PALS presumably due to the greater level of reciprocal engagement of those settings (Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes & Martinez, 2002)30.
In addition, the results of a study investigating the effects of peer delivered self-monitoring strategies on middle school students with significant disabilities, showed an increase in percentages of occurrence across eleven identified academic survival skills for all students (Gilberts, Agran, Hughes & Wehmeyer, 2001)31.

Two studies investigated the issue of contribution of peers to the generalization of social behaviors for elementary students with autism.
In both studies, increases in social interaction with typical peers were noted with greater generalization of skills observed from groups with trained peers and less from groups with untrained or stranger peers (Kamps, Royer, Dugan, Kravits, Gonzalez-Lopez, Garcia, Carnazzo, Morrison, & Garrison Kane, 2002)32.

This makes training of peers an important issue.

28 Sailor, W. (2002).

President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education: Research Agenda Task Force.

Nashville, TN.
Nashville, TN.

29 McMaster, K. L., Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2007).

Promises and limitations of peer-assisted learning strategies in reading.

Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 5(2), 97-112.

30 Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Mathes, P. G., & Martinez, E. (2002).

Preliminary evidence on the social standing of students with learning disabilities in PALS and No-PALS classrooms.

Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 15, 85- 91.
31 Gilberts, G. H., Agran, M., Hughes, C., & Wehmeyer, M. (2001).

The effects of peer delivered self-monitoring strategies on the participation of students with severe disabilities in general education classrooms.

Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 26(1), 25-36.

32 Kamps, D., Royer, J., Dugan, E., Kravits, T., Gonzalez-Lopez, A., Garcia, J., Carnazzo, K., Morrison, L., & Garrison Kane, L. (2002).
Peer training to facilitate social interaction for elementary students with autism and their peers.

Exceptional Children, 68(2), 173-187.

11 Peer support interventions are also emerging as an effective alternative to traditional paraprofessional support models for students with low incidence disabilities (Carter, Cushing, Clark & Kennedy, 2005)33.
Several descriptive studies have documented the disengagement of teachers when a one-on-one paraprofessional service delivery is used (Giangreco, Broer & Edelman 2001)34.

Curriculum Historically, the focus of research on instructional strategies for students with severe disabilities has been on “functional life skills” that were taught outside of the general education curriculum (Soukup, Wehmeyer, Bashinski, & Bovaird, 2007)35.
Browder and Cooper-Duffy (2003) report that less than 10% of studies with students with severe disabilities focused on academics, with some research showing success in functional academics and access skills in general education environments.

Clearly, the use of curriculum adaptations such as content specific modifications is necessary for the successful inclusion of students with severe disabilities.
While there is ample descriptive literature of methods and examples for making adaptations for these students, there is limited empirical evidence to date (Fisher & Frey, 2001)36.

Soukup and colleagues (2007)37 also examined the use of adaptations for students with severe disabilities in general education classrooms as well as the relationship between access to the general education curriculum and classroom variables.
Researchers found that students with severe disabilities worked on grade level standards in 60% of the intervals and worked on standards linked to any grade for 20% of the intervals.

Curriculum adaptations (changes to content representation, presentation, or student engagement) were observed in 18% of the intervals with no observations of curriculum augmentations (learning-to-learn strategies).
In terms of classroom variables, large and small group instructional arrangements were predictive of greater access to the general education curriculum.

33 Carter, E. W., Cushing, L. S., Clark, N. M., Kennedy, C. H. (2005).

Effects of peer support interventions on students’ access to the general curriculum and social interactions.

Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 30, 15-25.

34 Giangreco, M. F., Broer, S. M., & Edelman, S. W. (2001).
Teacher engagement with students with disabilities: Differences between paraprofessional service delivery models.

Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 26(2), 75-86.

35 Soukup, Wehmeyer, Bashinski, & Bovaird, (2007) Classroom Variables and Access to the General Curriculum for Students With Disabilities.

Exceptional children 74(1):101-120 DOI: 10.1177/001440290707400106 36 Fisher,D.

& Frey,N.

2001Access to the Core Curriculum: Critical Ingredients for Student Success.
Remedial and Special Education 22(3):148-157 .DOI: 10.1177/074193250102200303 37 Soukup, J.H., Wehmeyer, M.L., et al.

(2007) Classroom Variables and Access to the General Curriculum for Students With Disabilities.
Exceptional Children, 74(1), 101-120 12 In another study it was concluded conclude that students receiving instruction in general education were significantly more likely to be working on activities linked to the general education standards, although they were doing so without the types of adaptations that research suggests is critical for making progress (Soukup, Wehmeyer, Bashinski, & Bovaird, 2007).
Following this, Lee, Wehmeyer, Soukup, and Palmer (2010)38 studied the impact of curriculum modifications on student and teacher behaviors.

Researchers observed 45 students with a range of disabilities and found that the presence of curriculum modifications predicted increased student engagement and decreased competing behaviors that would disrupt learning.

In addition, the presence of modifications also resulted in teachers engaging in fewer management behaviors.
Other techniques that have resulted in improved learner outcomes in inclusive classrooms include the use of materials other than grade level textbooks in the area of social studies (Gersten, Baker, Smith-Johnson, Dimino, & Peterson, 2006)39 and employing an inquiry-based approach to science with a focus on varied ways of communicating learning (Pulincsar, Magnusson, Collins, & Cutter, 2001)40.
Universal Design The term universal design (UD) was coined by Ron Mace as a way of “designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life” (Center for Universal Design, 2010)41.

Educational models based on this concept, such as UDL, extended the idea of access to the learning environment (Rose, Harbour, Johnston, Daley, & Abarbanell, 2006)42.

38 Lee SH, Wehmeyer ML, Soukup JH, Palmer SB.


(2010)Impact of curriculum modifications on access to the general education curriculum for students with disabilities.

Exceptional Children.

;76(2):213–233 39 Gersten, R., Baker S. K., Smith-Johnson, J., Dimino, J., & Peterson, A.

(2006).

Eyes on the Prize: Teaching Complex Historical Content to Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities.

Exceptional Children, 72(3), 264-280.

40 Pulincsar, A. S., Magnusson, S. J., Collins, K. M., & Cutter, J.
(2001).

Making science accessible to all: Results of a design experiment in inclusive classrooms.

Learning Disability Quarterly, 24, 15-32.

41 Center for Universal Design.

(2010).

Ronald L. Mace [webpage].

Retrieved from http://www.ncsu.edu/ncsu/design/cud/about_ us/usronmace.htm 42 Rose, D. H., Harbour, W. S., Johnston, C. S., Daley, S. G., & Abarbanell, L. (2006).

Universal design for learning in postsecondary education: Reflections on principles and their application.
Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 19, 135–151.

13 Principles Associated With Universal Design Models43.

Model UID (Goff & Higbee, 2008; http://www.cehd.umn.edu/passit Principles/guidelines a.

Creating welcoming classrooms b.
Determining essential components of a course c. Communicating clear expectations d. Providing timely and constructive feedback e. Exploring use of natural supports for learning, including technology f. Designing teaching methods that consider diverse learning styles, abilities, ways of knowing, and previous experience and background knowledge g. Creating multiple ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge h. Promoting interaction among and between faculty and students Model UDL (National Center on Universal Design for Learning, 2010; www.udlcenter.org/) Principles/guidelines Principle I: Provide multiple means of representation Principle II: Provide multiple means of action and expression Principle III: Provide multiple means of engagement Model UDI (Burgstahler, 2009; http://www.washington.edu/doit/CUDE/) Principles/guidelines a.
Class climate b. Interaction c. Physical environments and products d. Delivery methods e. Information resources and technology f. Feedback g. Assessment h. Accommodation Although UD in education has become increasingly popular in the last few years the research evidence supporting UDL is scarce.
Edyburn (2010) noted the dearth of research on UDL and the implications of this scarcity, stating that “without an adequate base of primary research, an analysis of research evidence establishing UDL as a scientifically validated intervention is not 43 Taken from Rao, K., Ok, M. W.and Bryant, B.R.

(2014).

Remedial and Special Education, Vol.

35(3) 153–166.Sage Publications 14 possible” (p. 34).
Another barrier to establishing efficacy has been the lack of clear definition of what constitutes an intervention that is universally designed.
There is no consensus on how UD principles should be applied, nor is there agreement as to how much or in what combination the principles or guidelines of any model need to be present for an educational intervention to be considered universally designed Edyburn (2010)44 has also highlighted that UDL is essentially about instructional design and noted the importance of making clear connections between principles and components of instruction such as learning objectives, learner characteristics, support strategies, technology, and outcomes.
Rao, K., Ok, M. W. and Bryant, B.R.

(2014) carried out a descriptive review of 13 research studies conducted in pre-K–12 and post-secondary settings.

They examined how researchers are applying and evaluating UD in educational settings.

Results of the review illustrated that studies use a range of research designs to examine student outcomes and participant perceptions of UD-based curriculum and instruction.
Researchers report on their application of UD principles in varied ways, with no standard formats for describing how UD is used.

Based on results of the review, they provided the following recommendations to help establish a meaningful research base on the validity of UD in education.

According to them, the efficacy of applying UD to curriculum and instruction can be established over time, as research accumulates to prove or disprove that UD-based interventions work, for whom, and under what conditions.
For this to occur, it is important for researchers to do two things.

First, researchers will need to describe their interventions explicitly (Gersten et al., 2005; Odom et al., 2004)45.

By providing information on how UD principles are operationalized and applied to various components of pedagogy such as specific learning objectives, instructional strategies, and technology; researchers will give shape and form to the construct of UD in education.
Second, researchers should report complete demographic characteristics of their samples, including disability categories (Gersten et al., 2005; Hammill, Bryant, Brown, Dunn, & Marten, 44 Edyburn, D. L. (2010).

Would you recognize universal design for learning if you saw it?

Ten propositions for new directions for the second decade of UDL.

Learning Disability Quarterly, 33, 33–41.

45 Gersten, R., Fuchs, L., Compton, D., Coyne, M., Greenwood, C., & Innocenti, M. (2005).
Quality indicators for group experimental and quasi-experimental research in special education.

Exceptional Children, 71, 149–164.

 Odom, S. L., Brantlinger, E., Gersten, R., Horner, R. D., Thompson, B., & Harris, K. (2004).

Quality indicators for research in special education and guidelines for evidencebased practices: Executive summary.

Reston, VA: Division for Research, Council for Exceptional Children.

15 1989; Rosenberg et al., 1994)46.


Because UD-based educational interventions intend to increase access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities while also benefiting a range of learners with and without disabilities, it is particularly important to report specific participant information.

By doing so, researchers enable research consumers to ascertain for what specific types of learners UD-based intervention are effective.
Accessibility As mentioned above there are great benefits of IE that have been empirically accepted through research.

Despite these great benefits of inclusive education, there are challenges which are likely to be experienced by learners in the process of inclusion.

One such challenge is the accessibility of school and classrooms.

Classrooms, supporting facilities, playgrounds, bathrooms, and access to any room must be adequate.
Accessibility found in every detail of educational buildings and facilities is expected to be used as a demand so that every child with special needs can carry out activities independently in the school environment.

Julka (2013)47 carried out a Nationwide study in India and concluded that tackling architectural barriers remains limited to construction of ramps, railing and adapted toilets.
Six States had carried out activities to create an enabling physical environment and eight were in the process of doing so.

Some of the States stated lack of timely allotment of funds as the main reason for not taking up this task.

Students from various States also expressed the need for better adapted toilets and playgrounds.
Samarthyam, an NGO, with the support of Department for International Development, Government of United Kingdom (DfID), conducted access audits in 500 schools in 16 states from 2011 to 2014.

It was found that due to lack of expertise and poor understanding of access standards amongst construction personnel and school administration, school infrastructure was often barrier-filled and unsafe for CWD.
This hampered their access Samarthyam, an NGO, with the support of Department for International Development, Government of United Kingdom (DfID), conducted access audits in 500 schools in 16 states from 2011 to 2014.

It was found that due to lack of expertise and poor understanding of access standards amongst construction personnel and school administration, school infrastructure was often barrier-filled and unsafe 46.Hammill, D. D., Bryant, B. R., Brown, L., Dunn, C., & Marten, A.

(1989).
(1989).

How replicable is current LD research?

A follow-up to the CLD research committee’s recommendations.

Learning Disability Quarterly, 12, 174–179.

doi:10.2307/1510686  Rosenberg, M., Bott, D., Majsterek, D., Chiang, B., Gartland, D., Wesson, C., Wilson, R. (1994).

Minimum standards for the description of participants in learning disabilities research.

Remedial and Special Education, 15, 56–59 doi:10.1177/074193259401500108 47 Julka, A.

(2013).
(2013).

Evaluation of the Implementation of the Scheme Inclusive Education for Disabled atSecondary Stage (IEDSS) in India.

New Delhi: NCERT.

16 for CWD.

to and use of classrooms, playgrounds, libraries, drinking water units, toilets, mid-day meal areas, and other areas.48 Accessibility of teaching learning material and school experiences such as participation in midday meals, or cultural programmes are rarely considered.
Furthermore, the term “disabled friendly” is not clearly defined and in the context of schools could include barrier-free environment, school functioning and resource support available to help full participation for CWD.

Issues related to physical accessibility and barriers to education are more severe for girls with disabilities because girls face double prejudice with attached traditional gendered representations in addition to their disability (Bakhshi, Babulal & Trani, 201749; Limaye, 201650).
To conclude, years of research has undoubtfully demonstrated that the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms results in positive outcomes both for CWD and for other students.

Since a number of policy and legislative frameworks both in India and internationally support inclusion, this study is a humble attempt to study the inclusiveness of schools at elementary level through case studies.

48 Cited in UNICEF, Samarthyam and Accessible India Campaign (2016).
Making Schools Accessible to Children with Disabilities.

49 Bakhshi P, Babulal GM, Trani J-F (2017) Education of children with disabilities in New Delhi: When does exclusion occur?

PLoS ONE 12(9): e0183885.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183885 50 Limaye, S. (2016) Factors Influencing the Accessibility of Education for Children with Disabilities in India Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Retrieved from: Indiahttps://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1115090.pdf 17 Chapter two Methodology Major declarations and proclamations of recent times in the area of education have questioned the ethics of a dual system of delivery of education (special and regular) in the context of the struggle to affirm and guarantee the rights of those with special needs.
The common system, which would bring all on a common platform without any discrimination and encourage equal participation of all in the learning process, is significant for sustainable development of all in the society.

The movement that is based on human rights and social justice, and that can help in addressing inequality in society is inclusive education.
Although there are different categories of vulnerable groups like the socially disadvantaged, women and girls, linguistic and religious minorities, CWD, urban deprived etc., the concept of inclusive education is non categorical and aims at providing effective learning opportunities for every child, in particular tailored contexts8.

In the present time, inclusion is seen as a general process rather than just the inclusion of CWD in education51.
Over the years, the definitions of inclusive education have undergone a number of changes from inclusion of CWD to creating schools in which all children can learn, participate, achieve learning outcomes and also belong.

It is suggested that obstacles to education result not from inherent capacities, but from the physical and attitudinal barriers socially and politically constructed within the environment.

The changes throughout the world have had mixed implications for the education of CWD in India.
On the one hand, more open attitudes to new teaching methodology and concerns to build a more philanthropist society have led to moves towards inclusive education.

On the other hand, this awareness has been limited to urban areas and has not percolated down to the rural areas where majority of learners with disabilities reside, and remain out of school.
The duplication of efforts at different levels, lack of teacher training, lack of sufficient research initiatives, rigidity of the education system and lack of awareness are some of the major barriers that need to be addressed.

An index for inclusion has been developed by the NCERT that would impact the development of inclusive schools through self reflection by teachers and educational administrators.
Keeping that as criteria for exploring the effectiveness of inclusive schools, this study was undertaken.

The results of this study will help in deciding the initiatives to be taken to make the schools more inclusive by exploring the status of inclusion happening in some schools and suggest interventions for making them more inclusive.

51 UNESCO 2008 INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: THE WAY OF THE FUTURE.
Retrieved from: (http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Policy_Dialogue/48th_ICE/CONFINTED_48-3_English.pdf) 18 The present study Objectives The study aimed at meeting the following objectives:  To study the teachers beliefs, collaborative efforts and teaching methods for inclusion of children in education;  To analyse the planning, management strategies and barriers faced in implementing inclusive education;  To suggest guidelines to develop schools to be more inclusive Methodological Strategy  Ten Schools were selected in the initial phase from different regions and visited.
These schools were selected on the basis of feedback from States/UTs in different regions namely Kerala, Madhya Pradesh Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh and Maharashtra.

Care was exercised to cover those States/UTs that were showing literacy rate higher than the National Average and those showing literacy rate below average.

Out of ten schools visited, 6 schools were selected for in-depth case study.
These particular schools were selected on the basis of willingness of the school to participate in the research and the diverse profile of disabilities admitted to the schools.

Thus, criteria for selection of the schools for the final study were State’s feedback and personal visits.

Finally, 6 schools from the States/UT of Kerala (2 schools), Madhya Pradesh (1), Himachal Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Maharashtra (1) were selected for case studies.
 The Index for Inclusion developed by NCERT formed the criteria for developing tools under the study.
Tools in the form of semi structured interview schedules and a checklist for observing the available resources were prepared for teachers, Headmasters (HMs and State and IED Coordinators;  Data would also be collected through Focus Group Discussions with teachers and parents;  Data will also be collected from secondary sources for validating the primary data;  Qualitative analysis of the data was carried out and recommendations for guiding the development of inclusive schools were suggested.
The purpose of this study is to present real life stories to illustrate how inclusion is successfully or unsuccessfully being implemented.

Presently, Inclusion in the Indian context means CWD studying along with other children.

It is important to know whether children are pulled out in 19 resource rooms and self contained classes or they study and learn together with their peers in the same classroom.
The study will also highlight whether these children are still being unduly labeled or identified, get separate curriculum and are getting maximum educational benefits.

20 Chapter Three The Results Case Study 1: Madhya Pradesh: District Gwalior The primary schools visited were in Gwalior District of Madhya Pradesh and were in a rural village Rehat and Parihar.

The school that was selected in Rehat in one of the 113 villages in Ghatigaon block.
Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=gatigaon+in+gwalior+district&oq=gatigaon+in+gwalior&aqs =chrome.1.69i57j33.20185j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 21 The co-ed school in Rehat that was situated in a trial and backward area was visited.

It had 6 teachers and 122 students out of whom only two students were having disability.

One of these students had loco motor disability and the other one had mental retardation.
22 The Inclusion Model The learners in the school were taught under a program called ‘Dakshatha’.

Under this program, children were taught textbooks that were specifically developed for the program.

Three groups are made of the school children and these are Ankur (for basic level learning), Tarun (for medium level) and Umang (for higher level).

The school had classes from standard 1 to 5.


In the first group Ankur a 5th standard child will be sitting along with and 2nd standard student in Ankur if both of them required the most basic level of conceptual learning.

Children with disability or those categorized as slow learners were included in this group.

Students in the Ankur community are thus given the basic form of learning exercises like matching the names of vegetables with their pictures and so on.
These are children who may be studying in classes 3-5 at their academic level is at classes 1-2.

Thus, this was a kind of group that was given remedial interventions to all those children who required these.

This was called a booster dose.

According to the teachers ‘Dakshatha’ program has been quite helpful in teaching slow learning students.
To quote the head master, “students who had reached 4th standard without knowing the basic concepts in Hindi and Mathematics are taught at the 2nd standard level and find it very 23 helpful.

Since there was no detention policy till class 8th, many children reach that class without actually knowing the basics.

This programme according to the authorities was to run till September 15, 2020.
Apart from this, education department develops teacher learning materials (TLM) teachers use TLMs, some of which the teachers themselves have developed and the others that the education department have given them.

DAKSHITA TARUN For level medium UMANG For higher level ANKUR children For poor in academics and sports Teacher and Headmasters Speak A number of questions were asked from the teachers teaching in the school.

Most of these teachers considered themselves untrained to teach CWD in their class.
To the question that should special teachers be deployed when it comes to teaching CWD, the answers from the teaching community of the school was that a special teacher has to be deployed in each of the schools.

The teachers felt that these children have to e the responsibility of a special teacher even if they study in regular schools.

A teacher from the school said that “CWD should be given general promotion as they build permanent friendship that works as a support system.
If she is failed, she might have to put an effort again to recreate another support system.” According to the teachers they lack training in teaching CWD.

Apparently, the last training regarding disability for teachers was conducted in 2015-16 year and that also for a very short duration.

Teachers from then on have not been receiving any forms of training to teach CWD.
To quote the special teacher who is in charge of resource center of Ghatigaon block, “We haven’t given any training to regular teachers since 2016.

There are no orders from the higher authorities to conduct training sessions In inclusive schools”.

Some of the teachers however were of the opinion that CWD should be taught in separate schools.

One of the teacher said that “the child we have now has a physical disability which is not a big problem.

She can understand the concepts.


Things would have been difficult had the child been having a disability like other disability”.

The HM of the school had the same opinion.

To quote him, “we neither have the facilities nor the training to teach CWD”.

Children with disability should be taught in special schools after 5th standard and they should be taught by teachers who are themselves disabled.

There should be a special school at every block level”.
The HM believes that CWD should be 24 taught by people who know the ‘pain’ of disability.

To quote him, “the current system of education is doing a huge injustice towards CWD.

They are being forced to learn things with no real outcomes.

They are unable to be part of mainstream.

Their development is not happening”.

The HM goes on to say that things cannot be improved even if the teachers are trained.

The transmission of textual concepts is very minimal when it comes to teaching CWD.
Teachers opined that it is difficult to focus on a couple of CWD in a class with other children.

25 However, it was interesting to see that some teachers have also discovered innovative ways through trying out different things so that CWD in their classes could be engaged in learning.

To quote a teacher of Rehat school, “I found that Harsha (name changed) in my class liked it a lot when she is given the responsibility to finish a task.

She gets excited when she is given that attention and responsibility.
She is otherwise good in her studies too”.

The HM of the school generally celebrates the birthdays of children in their school.

The CWD in his school became really happy when he celebrated her birthday once.

The special teacher who was in charge of the Ghaitgaon block says that there has been no training for teachers in the past four years.

There is a huge lack in the number of resource persons allotted for each blocks.

According to the teacher, he is supposed to observe 398 schools in the block.
This means that even if he visits one school a day, he can’t visit all school in the same year.

This also means that he is able to attend only around 200 schools a year due to his work related demands.

There is thus, very less personal oriented focus that CWD receive in these schools.

There is no track of the progress in their cognitive capacities and social inclusion.

SSA lacks the workforce to do so.


The CWD in the school had a disability certificate though the profiling of CWD is at a very basic and ineffective level.

There is no proper tracking, no interest 26 in their progress, and one can say these children are not rejected but ignored by the administrators and teachers to a great extent.

Also, there are no occupational therapists at any of the resource centers.
To quote the Assistant Project Coordinator of Gwalior, “there should be a special teacher in every school.

Only then can hidden disability be dealt.” CWD aren't actually getting the amount of attention they deserve.

Home based education is not being resources and all children even the ones with severe disabilities have to e registered in school.

None of them come to attend classes but their names are enrolled.
Children with severe disabilities are thus only made to go through an initial profiling by making them join the school.

Very less guidance is provided.

She adds on that teachers are not sensitive to the special needs of these children.

They are very less trained and are given much work load in terms of official work.

The students are also quite less motivated as teachers are unable to focus on them”.
Parents’ Involvement The teachers were found to be unhappy with the parental community regarding the latter’s involvement in their children’s education.

They felt that parents are irresponsible and have no time to look after the needs of their children.

A major reason for this inability from the side of the parents is their illiteracy and working conditions.

Most of them were poor daily wage workers and had to seek work every day to meet the two ends meet.
According to one teacher “children stop coming at times to the school and we teachers visit the child’s house to find out why the child is absent from school.

Often the response from parents is discouraging as they are least concerned about sending their children to school and more concerned about going for work.” It is also because the child cannot come alone and have to depend upon a family member for support.
The primary school had a large number of tribal students, around more than quarter of the tribal students were absent as they had gone to dig potatoes with their parents for the landlords of villages in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
To quote a teacher, “when I asked a parent to keep his child in this village so that the child could attend the classes, he replied that his child can earn around eight thousand rupees in these days and asked me if I could make that money for him.” The tribes in the Ghatigaon block are forced to migrate for labor.

There is a huge crisis of permanent job in the area.

The tribal children are thus seriously affected due to this migration for labor.
Even the HM felt that absenteeism of children is high because of migratory tribes.

According to him, “parent’s support is very less and they are least serious about studies.

I had to personally take the cycles to children’s home when the government had announced free cycles for girl children”.
27 Parents going to dig potatoes Although teachers in general are of the opinion that although parents are much more sensitized to the issue of education of their children and CWD are now being enrolled into schools unlike before, their regularity in schools is still an acute problem.

The school has a School Management Committee (SMC) but according to teachers it is more or less non functional.
To quote teachers from Rehat school, “Committee members aren't really in the position of attending meetings as most of them are daily wage laborers and neither are they concerned about school.

They generally ask if they can come to just sign and go”.

There is no parent of CWD on the Committee.

According to the HM of the school, “out of the eighteen members, hardly anyone comes for the meeting.
So what I now do is I call a committee on the day when the gram sabha is called so that I can get all the members.

Even then all do not attend the meeting”.

Most of them are busy in their work.

28 Resources and Inclusion The school does not even fulfill even the basic infrastructural facilities required for all children leave aside the ones required for CWD.

There were not even a ramp and railing in the school.

In case of toilets, there is no adapted toilet for CWD and even for boys.
There is one toilet for girls.

There are no smart classrooms in any of the schools.

There are libraries with a small collection of books in the school.

However the school did not have books in accessible formats that CWD could use like books in Braille or in DAISY format.

Children in some classes were made to sit on the floor.

The classrooms in the school are generally are not disability friendly.

Benches are permanent cement structure with mere two entrances at two ends.
Children are supposed to sit in a way where their movement is highly restricted.

Suggestions The teachers of the schools had the following suggestions to improve the inclusion in their schools: 1.

The Government should intervene and provide permanent jobs for the tribes to bring an end to their migration for daily wage labor.

By doing this, their children can stay in the villages and attend the classes.

2.
2.

Special teachers should be appointed in every school as that's the only way at present to deal with hidden disability.

3.

Transport should be arranged for primary class children for their commute between their home and school.

4.

Government should be bringing in policies making parents accountable of their children’s education.

Conclusion The school in the backward tribal area has children from various backgrounds studying together in ability and non ability groups including CWD.
Although there is integration in the class there is no differentiation in curriculum, there is labeling and categorization in ability and the educational benefits for CWD are minimum.

In addition, the HM and the teachers are sympathetic but also feel that these children should be the responsibility of a special teacher which highlights the attitudes that are more bent towards discrimination and stereotyping.
29 Case Study 2: Mumbai, Maharashtra The field of this particular was Guru Nanak Higher Secondary School located in G.T.B Nagar, Mumbai.

The school comes under the Government aided category and holds a linguistic minority status.

The school is run by Guru Nanak Vidayak Society, a Sikh trust.

There are a total of 948 students and 20 teachers at present in the school.

The school has a separate Hindi and English medium classes.
The school admits students whoever wants to take admission from the neighourhood.

The Inclusion Model The school has both CWD learners and other children studying together in different classes.

In addition to CWD slow learners are also identified at the start of each academic year.

The teachers say that they need not be taught completely separate from the rest of the students but then, should be given extra care and classes as required.
For example, children who are not good in academics are made to sit in the front seats of the class.

Teachers develop materials like flash cards which they use to teach these students in the classrooms.

These children are 30 made to read out lessons loudly and teachers say that this sort of an approach has greatly helped these students with conceptual understanding.

Such reading sessions have helped in building the confidence of these students who are generally silent otherwise in the class.
Resource teachers supporting CWD are attached to the school from Government (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan).

31 A sample assessment proforma for intellectual disability.

32 Teachers and Headmasters Speak The HMs of English medium and Hindi Medium schools were interviewed separately.

They differed from each other while expressing their views on inclusion.
The HM of English medium school believed that it would not be possible to include children from all backgrounds and with varying abilities under a single umbrella of education.

She said that children with severe disability cannot be educated with other children as this is not practical.

“Our teachers are not trained and we do not have proper resources.

However our school includes all children from minority background.
She also felt that even if the teachers are well trained, it would be very difficult to give CWD the attention they deserve when they are studying together with other students”.

The HM of Hindi medium, however, believed that it is possible to include all children under one umbrella of education by meeting their diverse needs provided the teachers are given enough training.

The current level of training is not enough and the teachers need to be further trained for inclusive education.
The HMs felt that the Government should take initiative for this and be more serious about this.

There should be better involvement from the side of government in terms of funds and other allowances so that the progress towards inclusion becomes much easier.

Both of the HMs believed that their school is on a path towards inclusive education and surely needs more efforts to be undertaken for better quality education for all.
The teachers are to be better equipped for dealing with children coming from all backgrounds.

33 Teachers from both English and Hindi medium believed that CWD should be taught by special educators.

A major challenge that the teachers face is how to teach CWD along with other children in the class.

Teachers felt they are not trained for inclusive classrooms especially for teaching CWD.
CWD need a lot of attention which the teachers are unable to give all the time in a large class along with other children.

The teachers have to switch their attention between both set of children which the leaves the class distracted and in chaos.

To quote a teacher teaching the 2nd grade with two children with intellectual disability in her class, “both children are slow in responding.

I have made one of them the class monitor to involve her more in the class.
Though I can see a gradual improvement in both of them, I feel that special educators are needed to teach these children.

It Is very difficult to focus on other children and the class is always distracted.” The teachers also feel de motivated as they are unable to give quality education to CWD because of lack of training.
They feel they are unaware of the way classes can be taken for them and this has greatly brought down their morale as they don't see much improvement in CWD even after consistent efforts.

It was clear that they felt frustrated and wanted some change to happen even though there were very few CWD in the primary classrooms.

There was one child with hearing disability and two children with intellectual disability.
It could be observed that the teachers themselves are unclear on how to create a welcoming milieu for CWD when they are admitted to their classrooms.

Most of the interventions planned are on trial and error basis or on an experimental basis.

They are not supported by any expert and feel that they lack the expertise.

Nevertheless, teachers have been seeing progress.

To quote a teacher, “my class has two children with intellectual disability.

I have been creating special worksheets for both of them.
I can see that there is a gradual improvement in both of them.

There is an increase in confidence in both of them though the response is still quite slow.” A major problem according to the HM lies in the early identification of CWD.

To quote the HM, “some of the parents do not inform the school that their child is disabled at the time of admission due to the taboo attached with it.
The school may not be able to identify the disability in some cases as the disability may not be physically visible, for example, children with hearing disability.

This at times results in the child not being able to avail the allowances provided to her by the government”.

It was surprising that she talked about allowances and not early interventions.

Another challenge according to the HM lies in the inefficiency of teachers.
She believes that teachers are to be given more in service training to make them more effective in teaching CWD.

In addition the government has to provide special teachers to schools to train CWD as normal 34 teachers are not trained to teach them.

The HM adds on to this by stating that it is difficult to make education in schools like hers accessible to CWD.

To quote her, “children with serious disability should be admitted in special schools.
The teachers in our school cannot teach as they don't know how to.

This also takes a lot of their time which they could otherwise focus on other students of their class.” Parents’ Involvement Teachers say that they maintain a continuous dialogue with the parents through monthly PTA meetings where they discuss each child’s progress with their respective parents.

Apart from this, each class has a whats app group in which all parents are added.
A lot of communication that the teachers have to do is done through this group.

To quote a teacher, “parents are not educated.

Teachers do not receive any help from parents.

The children are totally dependent on us for their education.

They are least interested when we hold open house meetings to discuss their child’s progress.” There are some parents who realize their inadequacy and are concerned about their child’s studies.
They have admitted their children for tuition classes because they can’t help their children in their studies.

Resources and Inclusion The school has ramps and railing at the entrance.

There are disability friendly toilets at each floor of the school.

The school has an AV room and a language lab.

In the AV room the children are shown small video clips of concepts related to the subjects that they study.

There are video clips on all of the subjects.


The AV room has an operator and the videos are shown on a white board using a projector.

According to the HM, “the children are really enthusiastic about attending the AV periods.
The whole practice has helped a lot with bringing conceptual clarity into the students as the children watch a visual representation of the concepts that they learn in the classes.” Bringing an audio visual angle to the classes have in fact has led to a radical change in the form of the art of teaching.

Teachers are also benefiting as unlike before, it’s easier for them to help the child relate with the concepts taught.
35 36 The language lab on the other hand is intended to improve the English efficiency of children.

In this lab, each child is given a computer and a headset.

The children can themselves access the system.

The students can use the applications in the computer which has activities for the children, for example, there are recorded poems, small stories, activities like coloring etc through and students get practice in simple English words.
The HM says that this has greatly helped the students in getting acquainted with basic English, for example colors, shapes etc.

Both AV room and language lab are at the onset accessible for children with disability.

In fact, it could greatly help children with intellectual disability as a visual practice would be much more engaging for them.

A major drawback however is that none of these resources are accessible for children with visual impairment without suitable soft wares.
The school boasts of a library with around 14, 729 books at present.

However, the school doesn't have a permanent librarian and thus one of the teachers is appointed as a part time librarian who takes care of the books.

It is unfortunate that even after having a huge collection of books, the library remains unused by the students.

A lot of books remain in the shelves and 37 the library room is used only for special occasions.
A culture of reading or a sense of purpose of the library has not been created among the students.

Suggestions The suggestions from the side of the Teachers and HMs are: a) the no detention policy or rule of compulsory pass till class 8 has to be revised.

According to him, “students are careless after RTE announced compulsory passing of all students till class 8.

This rule has made students less serious on studies.

He went on to say that the “fear of failure was a driving force for children to study”.
b) the teachers are supposed to be given better training.

Mere in-service training is not enough for them.

There should be regular training sessions to make them more proficient in handling an inclusive class.

c) government school HMs are given too much of administrative work.

This greatly hampers their effort in giving proper attention to matters related to students.

Even the teachers are given a lot of administrative burden by the state.
This has to be checked for them to be able to focus more on the development of students.

d) the HM also said that “severely disabled students need to be admitted to special schools.

It’s impossible to give proper attention to other students of the class.

There is no use even if teachers are given training to deal CWD.” e) special teachers are to be appointed in each of the schools unlike the existing system of a set of common special teachers for each block.
With the existing rule, the schools are unable to use the resource persons as there are very less special teachers for a large number of schools.

In fact, at present there are only 43 special teachers for a total of 1200 schools under BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation).

f) the paperwork is to be reduced.

Teachers are of the opinion that they are given too much of administrative work after the CCE system came into existence.

This is greatly hampering their efforts to focus on their classes.
The volume of work is so much that teachers are forced to even work from home and thus give less time on lesson preparations for classes.

g) the textbooks should be smaller and of better quality.

The present publications that the school uses are Navneet and Chetana.

Teachers feel that the content is too much for a year and 38 thus are forced to run over chapters without actually being able to make reach the concepts to the students.

h) the teacher strength of school has to be increased.
A teacher on an average has to teach around 45 students.

If a teacher takes a leave, other teacher of the same grade share the children of the class thus taking the class strength to around 70.

This is a great burden as classes turns chaotic with such high strength and there is not enough space to accommodate such high number of children comfortably.

i) more ICTs should be used in the classrooms.

This mode of learning is much more fruitful for the students rather than the textbooks.
j) special teachers should be appointed in all the schools.

The existing teachers should be given more training and counseling sessions to make them more efficient.

k) there should subjects and classes on moral values for students.

The students greatly lack basic moral values and manners according to the teachers.

Conclusion The school visited caters to minority and other students in the vicinity.
Although the school infrastructure is good and it provides opportunities to students for learning through variety of experiences, it still requires better trained teachers and better attitude to include all students in the classroom.

The teachers consider CWD a burden as they are unable to meet the needs of these children and also the needs of other students.

Since it is located in the urban area there is better awareness and information regarding the support services available.
The problem is of harnessing these services of the Government for better results and outcomes.

39 Case Study 3: Shimla Himachal Pradesh The study was carried out in the Government Center Primary School Portmore in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh.

Built in the British era, the school holds classes from 1st to 5th grade.

The medium of instruction is English.

The school has strength of 352 students and 9 teachers.

The school was visited everyday for 8 days and observations were made.
Interviews were carried out and discussions were held with regular teachers, head master and resource teachers.

40 41 The Inclusion Model There are CWD (Hearing impairment, learning disability and Intellectual disability) and children belonging to SC in the school.

A major mode of teaching that teachers in the school have adopted is the use of TLMs that are made by the teachers themselves.

Various activities are then carried out using these TLMs that demands the active interaction of the students.
The slow learning students, according to the teachers, thus get more practical experience or an experience that they can relate with the concepts they learn in class.

The teachers added that they assure that the slow learner students are encouraged to be more involved in these activities carried out.

The teachers have received training from NGOs like Sampark, Samarth and Bharathi on how to use TLMs to teach children.
42 There are also peer groups formed in the classrooms that include slow learner students along with other students.

Each group is given activities and assignments which are graded.

The slow learning students thus get a constant support on learning from their peers in these groups.

However, the outcomes of some students are an issue of concern.
To quote a teacher, “the CWD in my class understands most of the things that I teach but when I make her write digits and alphabets, she cannot write them properly.

For example, she always writes the digit 6 in its mirror form”.

Teachers and Headmasters speak The principal believes that it is possible to include all the children under one system of education.

He believes that it should be done indeed.


The difficulty according to him in achieving the same is the lack of facilities in all sense of the term, ranging from resource persons to the funds allocated for constructing buildings.

He reiterates that children shouldn't be excluded from education.

The principal expressed that he doesn't believe that his school has achieved a state of inclusion till now.
He says that the school has to take many more initiatives and the initiatives have to come also from the side of state government.

He said “there is a child with hearing impairment in our school.

We didn't know what to do with him when he joined our 43 school.

We don't have special educators in our school.

He taught himself to adapt with the passage of time.” The teachers of the school said that CWD are to be taught in special schools.
To quote a teacher who handles the third standard, “there is a child in my class who has hearing impairment.

We have made him to sit in the front row but then, we don’t know what exactly is to be done with the child even though he isn’t bad at studies”.

There are two other students with intellectual disability in the primary section.

A major argument for the necessity of special schools from the teachers was that they are very hardly trained to deal with CWD.
The teachers do not have any idea on how to teach CWD when they come to their classes.

To add on, teachers said that they lose a huge amount of time on a single child thereby losing major chunk of time that has to be spent in finishing the curriculum.

To quote a teacher teaching a child with intellectual disability, “she understands concepts when you teach her but struggles to recollect them after a point of time.
When I was teaching her to write numbers, she was repeatedly writing the digit 6 in its mirror form.

I think she has dyslexia like the child in the movie Taare Zameen Par.” It was observed that teachers had no clue about the disability condition of their students.

The teachers were also unaware of the basic disability terminology.

Parents’ Involvement 44 Majority of the teachers felt that parents are generally co-operative with teachers when it comes to their child’s education.
They attend the monthly parent-teacher meeting that is held for them.

Some of them even try teaching their children at home and help with their homework.

However, two out of a total of nine teachers argued otherwise stating that parents are not very cooperative.

When asked why, their reason was that parents are unable to be a part of their child’s learning process even if they want to the reason given was that due to their illiteracy and working conditions they are unable to contribute.
To quote a teacher, “most of the parents belong to the labour classes who have migrated majorly from U.P and Bihar.

They are not motivated much to help their children at home.

Even those who want to are unable to do so due to their illiteracy.” Even when this is the case, the popular argument still goes that parents are concerned about the education of their children and are therefore cooperative in matters pertaining to their child’s education.
The very idea that their children shouldn’t be uneducated as themselves and the hope for a better future for their children is the driving forces.

The parents of CWD in the school are also regular in sending their children to school and even in school meetings.

The SMC in the school is comprised of eleven parents and one teacher who is the HM himself.

The chairman of the committee is a parent and the HM is the secretary of the committee.

The SMC holds a meeting every month.


Generally, the school holds a meeting that is open for all the parents so that decisions are made at a larger presence of all parents.

The present SMC has a parent of a disabled child and a parent of an SC child.

Resources and Inclusion The major challenge in terms of physical infrastructure in a place like Shimla is its terrain.

The HT asks, “where should the construction begin for disabled children?

Shimla is a hilly place.

There are stairs everywhere.


If ramps are made in just the schools, what about children travelling from their home to school?

Where all can the stairs be avoided?” he goes on to say that instead of bringing infrastructural changes to all the schools which is impossible, the government can adopt one or two schools in Shimla and can make focus on turning them into disable friendly schools.
Even though there are new constructions happening in the school, none of them are in accordance with the needs of children with disability.

There is not even a single ramp in the school or even a disable friendly toilet.

The school has a computer lab that was built at the expense of CHT and the parents of the children.

The computer lab is accessible to class 4 and 5 and rest of the classes is given theoretical lessons on ICT.
Since there is no funding from the side of the government for labs and instructors, the CHT decided to get second hand computers on sale from government 45 institutions at very low price.

The fund for the same was raised from the parents who supported the whole initiative.

To quote the CHT, “parents are always ready to spend if it’s for the betterment of their children.” the computer lab has thus been a very successful joint initiative that way.
Suggestions The following are the suggestions made by the HM for improving the inclusiveness in the schools: a) Schools should possess better infrastructure.

The buildings should be much more disability friendly.

Fund should be adequately provided so that schools can have ramps, toilets etc for CWD.

b) Every school should have permanent sweeper and security guards.

The state department does not allocate funds at present for both.
The school has to keep the sweepers and security at present at their expense.

This shouldn't be the case.

c) Compulsory computer education should be provided to each child in the school.

d) Schools should possess more qualified teachers.

Most of teachers at present are unable to deal with English.

They lack the expertise capacity especially when the subjects are to be taught in English.

Also, teachers should be subject experts.


The existing system of one teacher teaching all subjects should be changed and subject expert teachers need to be included.

The teachers had the following suggestions for the improvement of their schools: 1.

The foundation of the children has to be much stronger.

As a child grows and passes on to higher classes, if she lacks a strong understanding on the major concepts, she can’t relate to or comprehend the lessons taught at the higher levels.

2.
2.

There should be skill development training for the students.

A child growing up with mere academic training may get disillusioned and demotivated during the course of her education.

3.

The NCERT textbooks unlike the previous textbooks give much more emphasis on theoretical aspects.

The earlier state government prescribed textbooks had more activity oriented lessons.
The newer ones have adopted more of a textual approach thus making the teaching learning process much more monotonous for both teachers and students.

46 4.

E.V.S and English textbooks are too heavy content wise for primary level students.

The books are difficult to be covered in one single academic year.

To add on, the E.V.S as a subject is introduced only at the third standard.
According to the teachers, this subject should be introduced from the beginning as children should have knowledge about their environment from their very start of education.

Conclusion The teachers in the school in the hilly area expressed their inability to teach in inclusive schools because of lack of expertise and poor infrastructure and resources.
The HM also believes in inclusion theoretically but in practical sense it appears to e next to impossible especially because of the hilly terrain and lack of trained teachers.

Case Study 4: Guwhati, Assam The school visited was Chamatha Pothar L.P School located in the Dimoria block of Kamrup district in Assam.

It is located at Chamatha besides the national highway 27.

This particular school is a government school.

The school holds classes from standard one to standard five.
With a total of 118 students, there are five teachers present in the school with one head teacher, one assistant teacher and three teachers.

Three of the teachers are male and four of the teachers are in permanent posting in the school.

47 The school was visited continuously for a period of 10 days.

A detailed interview with the head teacher and with the teachers was carried out.

Focus group discussions with the teachers and interaction with the parents were held.
In addition, the checklist was also filled out based on the observations held.

The officials from SSA were also interviewed as part of the research.

The Inclusion Model Each of the classes from standard one to standard five have students categorized as slow learners.

The teachers of each class select slow learning students at the start of each academic session through observation of their students.
Students who are less responsive and underperforming academically are generally categorized as slow learning students.

All of the four children with disability are also clubbed along with the slow learning students.

When asked about how the teachers deal with slow learning students, the teachers in unison replied that “we take them separate and teach”.

Teachers hold special remedial classes for them.


When asked about the reason behind this, teachers went on to say that other students will get bored otherwise.

To quote them, “these people are like this.

They don’t learn.

Their parents are 48 from labor class.

They just come here to eat”.

The teachers have developed some teaching learning materials for students.

The slow learning students are made to do activities that include using the TLMs.
Teachers also use some of the TLMs that the state education department provided them.

There are four children with disability (CWD) in the school.

All of them are males and the disabilities recorded are Cerebral Palsy, Orthopedic disability, Intellectual Disability.

CWD are generally taken care by the resource persons of SSA in matters related to their disability.

To quote the resource person in charge of the school, “we conduct therapy sessions for CWD twice every week.
Our resource centers have therapists of all sorts who conduct the sessions for children.” According to her, the parents of CWD are least sensitized on issues pertaining to disability.

Parents are superstitious on their child’s disability.

They believe that disability is a sign of punishment or bad omen.

The parents are thus generally unwilling to admit their children in the school or to even take them to resource centers for therapy sessions.
To quote the resource person on an instance when they approached the parents of the child with orthopedic disability, “the parents asked us that why are we insulting their child”?

They haven’t yet accepted that their child should be given special care.

The head teacher of the school is of the same opinion.

A child having intellectual disability is not sent to resource center by his parents.

To quote the head teacher, “there is a lack of sensitization.
Parents are not ready to send their children to school.” In fact, when asked if the school has put efforts to talk to his parents, the head teacher says that they have never met his father.

According to her, “his father never comes to school.” Of all these children, Debajit Sharma, a fourth standard child with Cerebral Palsy is the only child who is regular in school.
In an Interview with Debajit’s mother, she expressed that her son has seen a great improvement in terms of health and cognitive abilities after attending the therapy sessions from the resource center.

She said , that “my son has been attending the therapy sessions for over a year now.

He is able to talk better than before.

He couldn’t hold his neck straight earlier.

He is able to do that now.” Parents are trained to give therapy to their children at the resource center.
According to her, parents are lacking sensitization on the issue of disability and are thus reluctant to bring their children to school.

When asked about the inclusion of her own child in that school, she feels that the school has been very accommodating for her child.

She said that, “the principal and teachers are very encouraging here.
They are very approachable.” 49 Teachers and Headmaster Speak All teachers in the school feel that CWD need not be taught separately through special teachers who should be a part of the school.

The special teachers occasionally visit the school from the resource center.

The general practice is students going to resource centers.

One teacher said, “it’s difficult to teach CWD along with another twenty students”.
Teachers in the school do not know as to what is to be done when a CWD is admitted in their class.

The teachers when asked about workshops or seminars conducted for them regarding teaching CWD replied that they weren't till date given any classes or training on that.

To quote a teacher teaching a CWD in her class, “I have been persistently trying to make the child react but the child does not react at all.
Therefore, what I generally do is to praise the child and crack jokes with him.” As is generally the case, the teachers use trial and error method to teach the children.

They try out different methods and adopt those ones which seem to make the child respond.

A child with intellectual disability apparently drew circles in his answer papers.

Teachers seemed to be a little de motivated in the case of such children who are less responsive.

They are clueless on the methods to teach him.


The resource persons from SSA say that a 2-3 days long training camp is held every year on inclusive education which the teachers denied..

Anyway, the training till date seems to be less effective as teachers are still clueless on teaching children together in an inclusive class.

50 Resources and Inclusion The school is a one floor single building with four rooms at a stretch.
One room is allocated as the staff room, another room is used by classes 1 and 2, the other room is used by classes 3 and 4 and the final room is used by class 5.

The rooms used by classes 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 are divided by a wooden partition.

The desks and benches of classes were closely put as there was a space shortage.

To add on, it was observed that sound from one partition of the room could easily cause disturbance in the other class.
The classroom walls have paintings of Assam map, of national leaders, of different fruits and vegetables and other such informative diagrams.

A lot of 51 the paintings seemed old and fading.

The school could thus improve them and make it more colorful for the children.

Every classroom has a fan and the school has continuous electricity and water supply.

52 There are two toilet rooms adjacent to the school building, one for girls and the other for boys.
The teachers informally say that the girl’s toilet is generally used by all in the school.

The toilet naturally gets very dirty and stinking at the end of the day after being used by so many people.

The toilet is cleaned once every day in the morning.

To add on, there is no disabled friendly toilet in the school.

The school has a small space between the building and its compound where fun items like see- saw, slide etc are installed.
This space also has the building that's used for mid day meal preparation.

The children were seen to use the fun items during their free periods and lunch breaks.

53 The school is quite a disappointment in terms of disability friendly infrastructure.

There are no ramps in the school.

Children with mobility disability will find it difficult to get into the school building due to this.
In fact, a parent of a child with loco-motor disability complained that she had to carry her son on her back to take her son to his classroom.

Even the toilets in the school are not disability friendly.

To add on, the fun items installed in the compound are also inaccessible for CWD.

The school does not have any form of resource support at present.

There are no computer labs or any other activity labs.

None of the classrooms are smart classrooms.

There are no smart TVs in any of the classroom.


The teachers also seemed to be lacking digital literacy.

The children are therefore not given any form of training in enhancing their digital literacy.

54 The school has only 1 English teacher.

The rest of the teachers except one, are only good in their mother tongue Assamese.
It could therefore be noted that though the school promotes learning of English, teachers are unable to teach in English.. Also, as a single teacher deals with all the subjects in a classroom,.

The level of English training is thus would e problematic as children would find it difficult when they are suddenly taught English in their fifth class without ANY foundation in the lower classes.

The school provides no transport facilities to the children.
There are no funds from the education department for them.

It could be observed that one of the children with loco-motor disability isn’t attending classes due to lack of proper transport facilities.

Resource in the form of resource persons aren’t provided by the school.

Such interventions are done by Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

CWD are taken to Block Resource Centers (BRC) for therapies and counseling sessions.
The state education department has provided some TLMs to the school like models of different human organs and so on.

The rest are hand-made by the school teachers.

55 Suggestions The teachers of the school and HM had some suggestions for improving the process of inclusion among primary schools.

Following were those suggestions: 1.

There should more staffs in the school.

The existing number of students is too high to handle.
A teacher during the interview said that, “there are schools nearby to our school, where a single teacher handles more than hundred students.

Staff shortage is problem that we face.” The situation is worse when a teacher goes on leave.

The particular class will have to be managed by other teachers, thus disturbing their existing classes.

2.

The HM of the school said that there should be more rooms in the school.

At present no classes except class 5 has an independent room.
The school doesn’t have any extra rooms to be used as resource rooms like a language lab or a sports room.

3.

The HM also suggested that there should be provision of special teachers in the school.

She believes that it’s difficult for teachers to teach CWD on all aspects and thus special teachers should also be appointed in schools, who can use their professional methods of teaching.

4.

The state department should provide better TLMs.

The existing ones are too basic.


Teaching process could be made more effective if better TLMs are provided.

5.

Parents should be more cooperative.

Teachers are unhappy with the way parents are ignore education of their children.

Except for few parents, rest all is careless about the studies that their children do at home.

Conclusion The Chamatha Pathar School seems to be a long way back on the path of inclusion.
Though some of the teachers seemed encouraged for an including children with diverse needs in the class, none of them seemed to be equipped for the same.

Lack of training to teach in an inclusive classroom was conspicuous.

As mentioned earlier, teachers rely on a trial and error method.

Whichever method works out is adapted and carried on.

The teachers are thus to be sensitized and reminded that inclusion is a reality and not a utopia.
CWD would be part of the regular school only if the parents are sensitized about it.

The school lacks a strong sensitization mechanism resulting in the absence or irregularity of CWD attending schools.

Though it could be understood that the SSA along with the school is putting an effort into the same, the results aren’t discernible yet.

56 The school also needs a building that is disability friendly.

There is a shortage of individual classrooms for each standard.
To add on, there are no resource rooms and no smart classrooms too.

On the positive side, the SMC group in the school is quite active.

The SMC president, who is a local, visits the school regularly.

The school is also helped by the mother’s group.

There is thus an appreciable engagement with the parent and local community of the school.
Case Study 5 Karimbam, Kerala The school that was visited to conduct the case study was the Government Lower Primary School (GLPS), Karimbam situated in the district of Kannur, Kerala.

The school was started in the year of 1974 and at present holds standards from 1 to 4.

The school has five teaching staff and a non-teaching staff who takes care of the cleaning and mid-day meal cooking.

The language of instruction is Malayalam and English is taught as a subject.

The school has 103 students in total.


57 The school that was visited to conduct the case study was the Government Lower Primary School (GLPS), Karimbam situated in the district of Kannur, Kerala.

The school was started in the year of 1974 and at present holds standards from 1 to 4.

The school has five teaching staff and a non-teaching staff who takes care of the cleaning and mid-day meal cooking.

The language of instruction is Malayalam and English is taught as a subject.
The school has 103 students in total.

The Inclusion Model The school identifies children who are not good in studies at the start of each academic year.

Students who are less/ least responsive in the classrooms are selected and sent to the Block Resource Centers for further assistance.

The professionals at these BRCs perform further screening tests after all of which, the student is classified .

Three of these students are with intellectual disability.
When asked if the teachers believe that these children should be taught along with rest of the students, the answer was a yes.

To quote a teacher, “ learners, some of them change when they reach higher schools.

These students therefore must not be separated.” Teachers after identifying students who are poor academically, engage them in the 58 class activities along with other students.

They are given lighter tasks in the class compared to other children.
For example a teacher said, “when other children are given complete sentences to write, some children are given a single word to focus upon.” The teachers in the school seemed empathetic and encouraging towards these students.

One of the learners with poor outcomes according to them liked activities like farming, herding etc.

Teachers had given him the duty to water vegetable plants that were grown inside the school as a part of a government project The school has four children with disability.
All of the four children are diagnosed with intellectual disability.

Out of the four, three attend the school regularly while the fourth child is under home-study practice by SSA due to severe nature of the disability.

The regular students are also categorized as poor learners and good learners in the school.

It was observed that the major activities carried out for CWD in the school were done by staff and special teachers from nearest Block Resource Center.
The regular attending CWSN are given remedial classes every Saturday.

When asked about the regularity of these Saturday classes, the headmistress answered that the classes are held on all the possible Saturdays.

Though the normal classes are carried out by school teachers, activities concerning to the immediate learning of a CWSN like conduction of remedial classes, therapy sessions etc are carried out by special teachers from SSA.
Teachers of the school, similar to other schools lack a proper methodological approach when it comes to teaching CWSN.

Classes for CWSN are held on a trial and error basis.

Teachers try out different methods and focus and repeat those methods that seem to be resonating with CWSN.

To quote a teacher, “when a CWSN joins the school, we make her comfortable firstly.
We try to make them fearless and also teach other students to be friendly.” The teachers are clueless as to how CWSN are to be engaged in learning practices where these students develop cognitive capabilities.

The one child with disability who isn’t attending school and is under home study programme of SSA is also attended by special teachers from SSA.

It is to be noted that school is also seen as a nodal point where CWSN and the ‘state’ meet.
Enrolling in a school entitles a CWD to her rights as a student.

The child under home study in this particular case could be seen as one such example of such a thing.

A positive aspect of this is that parents are sensitized about the entitlements of CWSN and are also effectively using it.

A demerit of the same is that regular teachers attend this child only during special occasions.
A continuous academic training to this child is given by the teachers from SSA thus taking the entire responsibility of the child.

59 Teachers & Headmaster Speak The teachers in the school believe that CWD shouldn’t be taught separately from the regular students, provided certain conditions are met.

To quote a teacher, “one child with intellectual disability doesn’t sit in his class ever.

He randomly runs to other classes and sits there.


The teachers and other children are very comfortable with this child.

We don’t run behind him when he leaves the classes.

The other children have also accepted him.

Nobody has a problem now.” The school has a tolerant attitude towards CWSN in general.
There is another success story in the school in which all of the students and teachers of the school along with people from SSA visited the home of the child who is under home study in a program called ‘Changathikootam’, translated as ‘Friendship group’.

The intention was to donate books to make a library for the child in her home.

Everyone who attended the program thus carried a book with themselves to the child’s home and helped her in making a library there.
The school building is prima facie disability friendly.

There is a ramp and rail in front of the school adjacent to the steps.

Parents’ Involvement To quote the headmistress, “parents are more aware of their aids and allowances.

They were less aware before.

There was an inhibition among parents earlier.

Government and media have played a big role.” The success story written earlier is a testimony for the same.
Parents seem to be aware of the entitlements for their children.. At the school, parents of CWD are positive in bringing their children to school.

The headmistress points out at basic education as a reason for this.

According to her, unlike parents of earlier ages, parents at present are with at least some form of basic education though it’s still backward generally.

The teachers however are of the opinion that parents have to be more attentive of the children.
Parents are being unable to be a proper support system for the children at home due to a lack of proper education.

They are generally in a constant communication with the parent community.

There are Whats-app groups for all the classes where the teachers let the parents know about the activities planned with children and so on.

The SSA does quite an impressive work among the parents of CWSN.

There is an Inclusive Parents Association at sub-district levels.
According to the Block Program Officer (BPO), IPA apart from holding camps for parents and CWSN, work as a networking system that has connected parents.

The IPA thus works as a mutual support system for these parents.

A camp is held for CWSN on each International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) day which is December 3rd of every year.

Apart from this, a residential camp with one day study tour is also held for CWSN and their parents.
To the quote the BPO, “the parents of CWSN are always 60 excited for this camp.

We cannot hold a camp for the whole community at a time due to shortage of resources.

I personally get requests from parents to enroll them in the oncoming camps.
These camps are hugely motivational for the parents as a community of parents of CWSN is made each time.” A serious form of interaction between the parents and the school takes place through School Management Committee (SMC) and Mother Parents Teachers Association (MPTA).

The SMC meetings take place once every month and also in cases of emergency.

There are 16 members in SMC at present though it doesn't have a single parent of CWSN.
According to the head mistress, “the SMC committee of the school is very active.

Their involvement is very necessary.

It’s the SMC that had involved and solved when the school faced issues regarding vehicles for commutation of children.

It’s a driving force for the school.” The MPTA on the other hand is an exclusively mother’s group along with the teachers.

This group particularly helps with cooking and cleaning works in the school.
Resources and Inclusion The school has a single floor building with classes till class four.

There are a total of six rooms in the school in which four are used as regular classrooms.

Out of the rest, one room is called as language lab where students are made to do activities with the help of ICT.

There are computers, projectors and screens in this room.

The other room is used as a store room for keeping the necessary items related to mid-day meal program.
Grade 1 class is segregated with a wooden wall and the other half is used as a staff room.

Both the language lab and class one 61 walls are filled with drawings of cartoon characters making the rooms colorful to the newcomers every year.

It is to be noted that all of the classrooms are smart classrooms.

There is an LED smart TV in every classroom with a Wi-Fi connection.

Teachers play subject related videos like poems, short story videos etc using these smart TVs.
According to the teachers, “introduction of smart classrooms have really helped us in so many ways.

It’s much easier to bring in conceptual clarity among the students.

Most importantly, it has become easier to retain the attention of children who now actually do listen to the classes taken through smart TVs.” The school building prima facie is friendly for CWD.

There is a ramp and a railing attached along at the entrance of the school.
The classrooms are quite spacious allowing free movement for children.

There is a single disability friendly toilet for girls with disability.

There aren’t any disability friendly toilets for boys in the school.

62 The school lacks in availability of resources that are disability friendly.

There are no Braille book collections in the library.

Due to the creation of smart classes, there are audio and animated files of a lot of lessons taught in class.
Apart from this, there are no collections of audio books.

Suggestions The headmistress and the teachers barely had any suggestions.

To quote the headmistress, “there are no special suggestions to make.

Things are all already there.” the teaching community thus seemed to be content with the present state of affairs of their school.

However a few suggestions are: 1) The headmistress had to say that “school building should be more children friendly.
For example, there should be more of wall paintings and designs.” 2) Teachers should develop a better reading habit.

They should extend their horizon of books.

3) The headmistress opined that special books should be designed with a target to enhance the civic sense of children.

4) The teachers had to suggest the fact that there are no special skill teachers for craft skills, music etc.

The teachers themselves are supposed to train their students in arts at present while taking part in a competition.
They thus feel that children can do better in such activities if teachers qualified in those respective fields teach them.

Conclusion The most striking issue is the role differentiation of teachers and special teachers with respect to teaching CWD.

A direct responsibility of CWD could be seen to be falling on teachers from SSA.

It is they who track the development of CWD in her academics and other spheres.

The teachers have a more passive role when it comes to teaching CWD.
While they attend to them in regular classes, the attention is merely peripheral in a lot of ways.

A lack of proper training among the teachers is the one big reason among other reasons.

There is however, an active involvement of the state among CWD.

The SSA has been doing an impressive works by creating an energetic and working community of CWD and their parents.

There is thus an increasing sensitization on the matter of disability in between teachers, parent and CWD.
Concerned parents and teachers are now more aware of rights that are granted for the disabled.

Thus, handing over the complete responsibility of CWD to the teachers and making them accountable for the learning outcomes would now be the biggest challenge to face along the road of inclusive education.
63 Case Study 6 : Taliparamba in the district of Kannur, Kerala The school that was visited for the purpose of research was Government Muslim Upper Primary School (GMUP) in Taliparamba in the district of Kannur.

Being an upper primary school, it holds classes from standard 1 to standard 7.

The focus was on the primary classes of the school .

64 The Inclusion Model The school has special teachers coming to the school twice every week to teach CWD.
The special teacher sits and helps the children while a class is being taken.

He also gives special sessions for children individually too.

To quote the special teacher, “we used to do the Individualized Education Program (IEP) where CWD are attended separately.

We have now adopted the Inclusive Education methodology where we teach the CWD by sitting along with them while their normal classes are happening”.

In IEP, a special teacher attends each CWD student individually to teach them.
The IEP method is majorly used while taking remedial classes which are held on all the possible Saturdays.

The special teacher lets he parents know about the classes through whatsapp groups and the classes are generally held in the Block Resource Center.

The teachers use peer learning and separate activities to teach the students.

Small groups are made where children are taught by other students if they require special interventions.

Teachers also use TLMs to teach these students.


Some of the TLMs were received from the government departments whereas the rest were made by the teachers.

Some of the CWD according to the teachers do show considerable development in their academic understanding over a period of time.

To quote a teacher, “there are some children in my class who need special attention.

There is one who is very lazy to come to school.

He doesn't understand anything.

I tried making the child write but nothing worked out”.
Teachers feel that lack of proper care from the side of parents is huge reason for this lack of growth.

They feel that parents are not putting any effort back home.

Teachers and Headmaster Speak There are at present a total of eleven CWD in the school.

A major problem that the school faces regarding the issue of disability is about the regularity of these children in attending their classes.
To quote the principal, “one of the students has stopped coming to school because the child needs physical support for accessing the toilet.

The parents until now made the child wear diaper.

Now, they have stopped this and the child is no more coming to the classes.” The parents of this particular child are unable to afford diapers on a daily level basis as they are daily wage laborers.

The financial assistance given to the child is in insufficient in this particular case.
To add on, it doesn’t seem that the school has done much effort to ensure the child’s presence.

There is no much communication between the child’s parents and the school.

Two of the CWD have stopped attending the school as both of them have been taken to a special school in Bangalore that specializes in education for children with Autism.

65 It was observed that the attitude of the school towards the issue of disability is of a nature of disappointment, helplessness and hope.
The HM of the school is of the stated that children with a higher degree of the disability should be admitted in special schools.

To quote him, “...generally special schools are good for them.

Children with lesser disability can be taught here”.

The reason for this is that teachers according to him are unable to teach CWD satisfactorily.

Teachers are unaware as to how children with severe disabilities are to be handled in their classes.
The teachers are in a state of helplessness when it comes to teaching CWD.

As stated by a teacher, “it’s not satisfying.

It’s difficult to teach them along with others.

How much does the concepts reach the child is always a doubt”.

Teachers find it difficult to attend to CWD along with the rest of the students.

The presence of special teachers which the SSA (two days in a week for each school) is providing at present will help the current teachers who aren’t trained to teach CWD.
To quote a teacher, “when a CWSN is admitted in the school, I try to get close to her and try to make the child like me as that’s the only way she will be listening to me.

I make the other children to interact with her.

I make the child do some light activities.

I make her draw picture of sun and moon”.

Another teacher added that “it’s difficult as there is limitation of time as lesson plans are supposed to be completed in a fixed time.
Though we specify things for CWD in the class, it doesn’t seem very effective.

CWD are very passive in class.

They just sit and don’t react”.

According to another teacher, “CWD a rare ‘zero’ compared to other students.

This is because the syllabus is that way.

Steps should be taken to make the syllabus CWD friendly.

There is no satisfaction for us”.

Parents’ Involvement The school has an active SMC with ten members at present.

The committee has a parent of CWD as a member.


SMC is the major platform of interaction between the parents and school.

The committee has helped in gathering an amount of ten Lakhs to buy the land for school.

In addition, another fifty thousand was collected for the bus that was given by the MLA of the constituency.

Parents and locals around the school are active on special occasions in the school.

For example, parents cooked the feast for all during the celebration of Onam in school.
Such things being there, the HM however is of the opinion that the committee is not very energetic.

There has to be much more efforts from the sides of parents to improve the school.

In terms of sensitizing the parents, the school has held awareness classes for parents regarding supporting their children in their education.

Health inspectors occasionally take classes on health for parents.

BRC and SSA also hold camps for parents.


SSA according to a special teacher from BRC is now going to give classes on skill development for the parents of CWD.

66 The teachers and HM are both feel that parents are not helping with their child’s education.

To quote a teacher, “some of the parents really want their child to be educated but they are not putting the needed efforts into it.” According to another teacher, “parents are mostly laborers.

They are poor.

Their lifestyle is affecting the children”.


Though most of the parents are literate, they aren't educated enough to help their children at home in their studies.

The attitude of parents towards the issue of disability according to the special teacher is still problematic.

He felt that, “lots of parents find it difficult to accept that their children require a special teacher to teach them.

They are unable to accept that their child has special needs”.
Resources and Inclusion The school has a concrete building with two floors.

There are a total of 10 classrooms ranging from class 1 to class 7.

In addition, there is a room for the HM and a room for mid-day meal preparation.

The HM says that the classrooms do not have furniture that is CWD friendly.

The classrooms have enough space for the free movement of children at present.

The school also has an adjacent building which has two classrooms and a resource room.
The resource room is currently unused with a lot of TLMs and science models being kept untouched.

There are a total of 9 toilets among which, one is CWD friendly.

There are no toilets for girl with disability.

All of the classrooms are currently smart class rooms with and LED TV and Wi Fi connection in each of the classrooms.

The TVs were provided by the MLA of the constituency.

The school has a collection of videos and audios on the lessons taught otherwise.
The teachers feel that smart classes have helped in teaching as children are interested when it comes to watching videos and audios.

It’s easier to keep them attentive during smart class sessions.

The school has a library collection of around 3633 books.

There is a library period every week when children can issue books for home and read.

However, there are no books in Braille or DAISY format.

The school doesn’t have a playground and neither a proper collection of sports gear.
Children were seen to be playing on the space just outside the building that’s covered with interlock blocks.

There is a minor collection of indoor and outdoor sports gear like a football, couple of badminton rackets and cricket bats etc.

67 The school has regular visits of special teachers from BRC.

Students who need therapeutic sessions are provided with occupational therapy sessions at the BRC.

Suggestions The following suggestions were made: 1) The syllabus has to be made more CWD friendly.
The current syllabus is not so.

Teachers are unable to make all students understand the concepts .

The content of the present syllabus has to be reduced as teachers are burdened with pressure of finishing timelines.

2) Parents should be more sensitized about educating their children.

To quote a teacher, “ninety percentages of parents put no effort in teaching their children back home”.

3) A parent of CWD whom was interviewed suggested that tuition classes should be provided in the schools.
4) Sports and Games should be more inclusive Conclusion Like the earlier schools even this school reflected a negative attitude towards inclusion of CWD in education.

It was evident from the fact that special teachers and training was emphasized 68 throughout the interactions held with the stakeholders.

More active role of the Government and Parents was considered to e an important issue.

Efforts are required at different levels to encourage and for boosting the morale of teachers and parents.
69 Chapter 4 Findings and Discussion The findings from these case studies are significant in the ongoing development of models of inclusion in the country.

Since the Government of India is promoting equitable and inclusive education through the new National Education Policy, 2020, review and development of school culture, policy and practice for more inclusive schooling becomes important.
Importantly, the focus on various stake holders like head master/mistress, teachers, parents and Government officials in charge of inclusion in the States will throw light on the curriculum, pedagogy and staff development leading to improved outcomes for teachers and students.
The study was carried out in different States covering various regions and with schools having diverse population of children like CWD, children belonging to minorities, scheduled tribes, scheduled castes and located in both rural and urban areas.

The study presents sampling of case studies that contain realistic problems concerning inclusion issues for teacher education and inclusive pedagogy to be solved.
Some of the glaring findings that throw light on the current inclusion policies are given below:  If Inclusion has to be successful, it will require better planning, preparation, appropriate communication, training and a very significant commitment of the administration at school level, block level and District level towards Inclusive schooling.

Inclusion will not be successful if carried out in haphazard manner as was the case in this study.
If students have to receive most appropriate education in inclusive classrooms as specified in RPWD Act, 2016, then more efforts need to be made.

The case studies depicted the poor educational scenario for CWD due to a number of factors that were expressed by the stake holders like lack of special educators, lack of training, poor finances, unwilling parents and poor collaboration with the Government.
Better collaboration between the District/Block administration is required if Inclusion has to be a reality.

 Teachers feel that they do not have the knowledge and skills to teach CWD along with other children.

Also they do not have the time to give special attention to these children as they have large classrooms and number of children to deal with.

They have to finish the syllabus on time and they are more concern about that.
For most of the teachers interviewed the best solution was to have the support of special educators who can provide resource support to these children as and when required.

70 This shows that general teachers do not feel positive about teaching children with special needs.
It also shows that both regular teachers and special teachers do not have adequate training and are not involved in how services have to be delivered then the benefits of inclusive education are lost and there and the environment becomes restrictive.

This was also felt some teachers who felt very de motivated because they felt they were not doing justice to the child.

 The parents need to be more aware and sensitized to the needs of their children.
Their priorities are earning money as they are all poor daily wage workers.

The situation was worse in tribal area where the parents used to migrate to other cities for earning their daily wage.

 Most of the schools studied except in urban areas, lack proper infrastructure and the classrooms are not accessible.

Ramps for wheelchairs must be built both, outside and inside a building, but in most of the schools studied, these were built at the entrance only.
Thus, school buildings are not designed for children with locomotor problems .

Nothing has been envisaged for a child with such problems within the school.

Some children drop out because of this reason as was the case in Assam.

It appeared that, the inclusive schools are mainly attended by children with less serious health problems.

There are also no adapted toilets, no transport for children who may require it.

Thus to achieve inclusive and equitable education further research is necessitated.
 Inclusive schools are like special educator, lacking professional specialists physiotherapists, speech therapist, counselors and occupational therapists.

A team of different specialists should work with children with special educational needs.

A general education teacher, a special education teacher, a psychologist and a speech therapist, should work with such children irrespective of their number and peculiarities.
Without such comprehensive team working with the child, it will not be possible for the child to achieve up to his/her potential irrespective of his/her ability.

 Sports, playgrounds and games are not adapted for CWD.

The physical education teacher and the computer teacher are both not trained to cater to the needs of CWD.

Both indoor and outdoor games are a distant dream for these children.

71  Schools still have a biased, discriminatory, stereotypical attitude towards CWDs.
Since 2007 after the UN Convention for the Rights of persons with disabilities, and especially after the RPWD Act, 2016, inclusive education has been declared one of the priorities of the government.

After the RPWD Act, 2016 the major programme of the Government the SSA has included this as a component.

For schools under the study, inclusion of CWD is still a huge challenge.
Teachers and administrators feel burdened and want these children to go to special schools if there is a serious disability involved.

They do try to e sympathetic and undertake some activities to make the children happy but these are few.

 The model of inclusion followed in the States is generally conceptualized as CWD studying along with other children in a regular class.

It is defined as CWD studying in a regular class along with other children.
Most of these children are considered to be slow learners in spite of having no intellectual disability.

Since teachers have no idea about how to teach these children along with other children and since they do not carry out any adaptations in the curriculum, nor they are flexible about the outcomes they attribute lack of response and poor outcomes to their being slow in learning.
The model thus followed is all children studying together but CWD being the responsibility of a special education if and when s/he comes.

The funding for this child is a necessary condition for inclusion to happen .

The basic right to education for these children is conditional to the provisions of the Government unlike for other children.

The teaching method included use of TLM which is the major intervention for these children.
 The teachers and administrators as mentioned above find it difficult to include CWD in the classrooms because of number of reasons some of these are also mentioned above.

The lack the intent and are relieved if the child is supported by a special educator.

According to them the situation for these children is hopeless in the regular schools and they would e better off in special schools which should e available at District level if not at block level.
 The Resource support is not available as even the special educator comes to school very rarely.

That is because she has the responsibility of a number of children.

In one State, one teacher has to visit around 200 schools.

There is no adapted material available for these children, no computer software, no books in accessible format.

It is like whatever is available for use has to be used by them.

In case it is not accessible to them it is their problem and not the school’s problem.
With poor infrastructure, lack of 72 accessible TLMs , absence of special educators and lack of training of regular teachers, these children prefer to stay at home rather than come to school.

 Finally, the SMCs need to play a more active role in planning and management of Inclusive education.

In many places parent of disabled child has been included in the committee.

It is also seen that wherever the local powerful people are involved, better facilities and infrastructure is harnessed for the school.
Thus there are very little collaborations between school and community which need to be strengthened.

The challenges that emerged from the study can be summarized as follows POOR PLANNING, MANAGEMENT & COLLABORATION INADEQUATE TRAINING AND SENSITIZATIO N POOR THE INCLUSIVE SCHOOL POOR RESOURCES & INFRASTRUCTURE POOR UNDERSTANDING OF INCLUSION & NEGATIVE ATTITUDES Conclusion The study clearly shows that Inclusion is far from reality .
It is conceptualized from the perspective of CWD by the stakeholders and no whole school approach is in the taking.

There is poor collaboration between the schools and administrative machinery, poor resource support, poor infrastructure and negative attitudes.

The teachers still feel that CWD are slow learners and should study only in special schools.

They also feel incapable of teaching them in regular classrooms as expressed by many teachers.
There is definitely labeling and identification of 73 CWDs .

Most of the times they are considered to be slow learners as the teachers don’t understand their needs and ignore them in the class.

If inclusion has to be implemented seriously then there should better planning, better communication amongst the stake holders, better resources, training both at pre service and in service levels and significant commitment of administration to support the schools.
At present, inclusion is happening in a haphazard manner.

If inclusive education has to be implemented as envisaged in the RPWD Act, 2016, then more formal planning and efforts need to be initiated to turn a non beneficial inclusive environment to a better learning place for all.

74 ANNEXURE ii QUESTIONNAIRES FOR EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS Name of the Headmaster Name of the School Postal Address and telephone no No of Children No of Children with disabilities Types of Disabilities No.
of Teachers Teacher Pupil Ratio Any other information iii 1.

Do you think it is possible to effectively include all children in education by meeting their diverse needs?

2.

Do you think that your school is an inclusive school that makes efforts to meet all the diverse needs of all children or you have to take many more initiatives for effective inclusion to happen?

3.

Do you give admission to all children from the neighbourhood in your school without following any rigid admission procedure?
What are the documents required for admission in your school?

iv 4.

What efforts do you make to improve the functioning of your school including improving the learning outcomes and happiness of children?

Are your efforts based on the teachers’/ students’/parents’ feedback or any other data (for example, child’s portfolio, record of absentees, dropouts, research, DISE data etc)?

5.

How often does the School Management Committee (SMC) hold its meetings in the school?
Does the SMC has an equal representation of the diversity seen in the classrooms (for example parent of CWD)?

6.

What are the provisions for sports for all students?

Are there any efforts to make the playground, if available and sports more accessible to CWD?

Are all children included in the recreational activities?

7.

Do you experience caste, gender, religion related problems in your school?

How do you solve these problems?

v 8.


Are there any forms of regular gender sensitization programmes held for teachers and students?

If yes, what do you cover in these programmes and how do you conduct them?

9.

Do you think it is important to identify learning difficulties /special educational needs as early as possible?

Are there any examples of early interventions you have implemented and how did you plan these?

10.

There may be many children who would be out of school in the neighbourhood.
Do you make any efforts to bring these children to school?

If yes, what are the intervention strategies used by you in such cases?

11.

How would you like to improve the infrastructural and other facilities like transport, escort services in your school to make it more accessible to all children especially to CWD?

vi 12.

What are the challenges you have faced or are likely to face in developing your school and also your classrooms to be more welcoming, accessible and inclusive to all children?

13.
13.

Do you think your teachers accept the idea of teaching all children together in their class?

Have you conducted programmes to sensitize the teaching and other staff of your school to accept and make efforts for effective inclusion?

14.

What are the set of training programmes that the teachers have undergone or are likely to undergo in order to update their knowledge and skills on aspects like inclusive education, ICTs and other assistive technologies?

vii 15.
vii 15.

Are there special educators and other resource staff like speech therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists etc visiting your school for children who require their services?

How frequently do they visit the schools?

16.

What are the different accessible formats of textbooks available in your school?

Braille textbooks Daisy books Electronic publications Enlarged text Audio books Others 17.

Do you have provision for ICT and related training for children?

Is this provision accessible to all?


viii 18.

Are there any forms of scholarship provided for children belonging to different backgrounds?

Are these valued by children or they consider them not to be enough or of limited use?

19.

Do you collaborate with NGOs, special schools or other organizations to strengthen the teaching learning process and learning outcomes of all children in the school (for example, trained teachers/volunteers, medical and therapeutic assistance, any other activities etc)?

20.
20.

Does the school have a media platform (magazine, school message boards, cultural programmes, booklets etc) to interact with staff, children, parents and community?

ix 21.

Have you provided or encouragedany forum where the teachers can collaborate with each other to enrich the teaching learning process and improve the learning outcomes of all children?

22.
22.

How do you ensure the safety and security of the children in terms of Physical safety (physical and sexual abuse), Bullying/mental harassment, discrimination, Labeling by teachers, Emergency situations (fire, earthquake etc.)

and other problems?

23.

How do you ensure that there is no practice of violence including physical punishment and harsh discipline by teachers?

x 24.

Does the school maintain health records of each student and arrange visits of medical personnel accordingly?

25.
25.

Do you have any suggestions for improving the inclusiveness of schools?

Teachers in Inclusive Schools 1.

Inclusive education is a very popular term nowadays.

What do you do to make your classrooms more inclusive?

For example you Value the presence of each child in the class and provide equal opportunities to learn.

xi 2.

Do you feel there are some children who are slow in learning and thus should be taught separately?

Can you give some examples with reasons?


3 Do you think children with disabilities come under the responsibility of special educators in special schools?

What possible challenges arise in teaching children with disabilities in regular class?

4.

What is the role of parents in their child’s education in your class?

Do you have frequent meetings with them and advise them or take their advice on issues related to their child?

5.

Are some children in your class teased or bullied?


Who are these children and why do you think this happens?

6.

What do you do when a child with disability is admitted in your class?

What are the steps you take to make him/her feel at home?

xii 7.

Do you have to use counseling skills with some children like girls or children with disabilities?

Give examples on when you had to use them in your class.

8 Do you collaborate with community for improving the quality of education?
Give examples/success stories.

9.

How do you involve peers in teaching learning process?

Are children willing and motivated for peer tutoring?

10.

Do teachers in your school discuss with each other the problems faced and find possible solutions together?

11.

While teaching in a class having children from different backgrounds, interests and abilities, what teaching strategies do you use and what difficulties do you face?

xiii 12.

What are the methods of assessment that you use for your students?
13.

Are there any specific problems faced by girls in your class and by children belonging to specific castes/tribes?

Give examples of your experiences.

14.

Are there students in your class who may require extra support in terms of additional time, adapted curricula, peer support etc?

Have you put efforts to provide the support as a teacher?

15.

There may be children who may become absent from your class for health reasons.

What do you do to help them cope up?

16.


If you wanted to improve the quality of education in your class what would be your wish list?

xiv CHECKLIST FOR INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS FOR ALL Name of the school- Postal address and telephone no.- xv No.

of children- Type of school: elementary/ primary/ secondary No.

of children with disabilities- girls/ boys/ co-ed.

school Types of disabilities- No.

of classrooms- Resource rooms- No.

of teachers- Staff rooms- No.


of special educators- Playgrounds- Teacher pupil ratio- labs- Computer Science labs- CHECKLIST FOR INCLUSIVE SCHOOLS FOR ALL SL.

NO THE SCHOOL POLICY SCHOOLS FOR ALL 1 Is there any form of discrimination practiced in the school on the basis of:- a) Gender xvi b) Caste c) Religion d) Language e) others 2 Do the teachers interact with parents to help their children in learning?

3 Are here special programs to support children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds?
Are there special efforts from the school to enroll all children from the neighborhood?

Does the school have connections of any sort with the early education initiators like anganwadis and pre-schools?

Is the school encouraging and welcoming enough for the students and their parents?

Are there regular reviews, resulting in changes of school policies, whenever required?

Is sports and recreation encouraged among the students in the school and are they accessible for all children?
xvii 9 Does the school have a functioning SMC?

10 Does the SMC have parents of children with disabilities and parents of children belonging to scheduled caste?

11 Does the school follow a strict admission procedure?

12 Are their children in the neighborhood who were refused admission?

13 Are there scholarships for children from socially disadvantaged background?

14 Is the privacy and dignity of children obtaining financial assistance maintained?

15 Does the school maintain a portfolio of students?
16 Does the school maintain a record of drop-outs from the school?

17 Does the school maintain a health record for all students?

18 Does the school have a time-table for teachers and students?

xviii 19 Does the school have a calendar of activities for the year?

20 Does the school have a system to receive feedback from teachers for improving the school?

21 Does the school have a system to receive feedback from students for improving the school?
22 Does the school have a system to receive feedback from parents for improving the school?

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT 23 Is the local community around the school involved in the school activities?

24 Are the school resources such as auditorium, mike set etc.

shared with the local community to conduct their programs?

25 Are the parents of the students encouraged to involve in the school activities?
26 Does the school collaborate with any NGOs or any other organizations to enhance the teaching learning process?

xix 27 Are the parents given counseling regarding helping their children at home in their educational needs?

CURRICULUM 28 Does the school provide a support system for the students for their transition to higher studies?

29 Does the school provide skill development training for the students?
30 Is the curriculum being taught considerate and accommodative of the social backgrounds of the children in the school?

31 Are the children able to relate to the language of instruction?

32 Are the following modes of communication used in classroom while teaching children?

a) Sign language b) Visual aids c) Auditory aids xx d) Tactile aids e) Braille language f) Others TEACHING AND LEARNING 33 Do the children find their classroom space to be a comfortable one?
34 Are the teachers trained to teach children with disabilities?

35 Are the teachers provided periodic gender sensitization programs?

36 Do the teachers use mother tongue in the classrooms to help the students to relate to the concepts taught?

37 Are the teachers updated in the knowledge on the subjects that they teach?

38 Do the teachers encourage peer group learning in the class?
xxi 39 Do the teachers conduct cooperative learning through group activities for their students to enrich the teaching learning process?

40 Do the teachers bring adaptations/modifications in the curriculum when necessary for better conceptual understanding among the students?

41 Are the teachers given extra administrative work related to the school?

42 Are the teachers regular in their attendance?

43 Do the teachers encourage the students to be an active participant in classroom discussions?
44 Were there any incidents of physical or mental abuse of the students in the past?

ASSESSMENT 45 Is the assessment a continuous process rather than based on a one-time exam for the students?

46 Does the assessment reflect different abilities rather than mere memory/ability to recall?

xxii 47 Are the assessment tools used encouraging for the students?

48 Does the student have any say in the assessment process?

Is self-evaluation practiced in the classrooms?


49 Does the assessment consider the co-curricular activities of the children?

50 Do the teachers use group activities and individual projects and activities for assessment?

51 Do the teachers practice relative assessment based on the portfolio of each student?

RESOURCE SUPPORT 52 Is there a computer lab in the school?

xxiii 53 Are there the following ICTs in the school?
a) Computers b) Printers and scanners c) Projectors and screens d) Internet e) Others 54 Are the students taught to use the ICTs?

55 Are the teachers trained to use the ICTs?

56 Does the school have sufficient number of teachers teaching all the required subjects?
57 Does the school have association with any of the following:- a) speech therapist b) occupational therapists c) primary health workers xxiv d) social workers e) physiotherapists f) counselors g) special educators 58 Are the visits by resource persons like therapists and special educators etc.

frequent in the school?

59 Does the school provide transport facility for children with disabilities?

MISCILLANEOUS 60 Are the students being passed to higher classes by the authorities?
61 Is there a prevalence of use of negative language in the classrooms by teachers or students?

62 Do the students approach teachers when they face any difficulties in general?

xxv 63 Is the interaction between children with and without disabilities healthy in the classroom?

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT SCHOOL BUILDING 64 Does the school have a full time continuous electricity supply?

65 Does the school have a full time continuous water supply?

66 Does the school have door handles that are not fixed too high?
67 Does the school have separate toilet rooms for girls and boys in the school?

68 Can children with disabilities access the toilet facilities in the school?

69 Do the schools have ramps and railings that are comfortable for children with disabilities?

70 Are the library books in the school in accessible formats for all children?

71 Does the school have additional rooms in the name of resource room for additional teaching?

xxvi 72 Does the school have a playground?


73 Does the school have provision for indoor games?

THE CLASSROOM 74 Do the classrooms setting allow free movement of children?

75 Do the classrooms have enough number of tables and chairs?

76 Do the classrooms have enough number of lights and fans?

77 Is the classroom strength too high in the school?

88 Does the classroom have enough room for ventilation?

79 Are the blackboards fixed at proper heights, making them accessible for all children?
80 Are books and other materials for children stored in the classroom?

xxvii 81 Are children with mobility impairments provided ground floor classrooms?

82 Is the furniture in the classrooms flexible and adjustable for children with disabilities?

SAFETY AND HEALTH SAFETY 83 Do the students feel free to discuss the problems that they face with the teachers?

84 Does the school have fire extinguishers fixed at all floors?

85 Does the school have an audio enabled emergency exit system?
86 Does the school hold mock drills for emergency situations?

87 Are the emergency numbers displayed in accessible formats for all children?

88 Does the school collaborate with government agencies to build a safe road system on the way to school?

xxviii 89 Does the school have an emergency evacuation plan?

90 Does the school have policies to ensure the safety of their children from sexual abuses?

HEALTH 91 Does the school have an efficient first aid system?
92 Does the school ensure the health needs of adolescent girls?

93 Does the school conduct regular health checkups for the students?

xxix xxx