OBSERVER RESEARCH FOUNDATION MUMBAI

Ideas and Action for a Better India

Inclusion is
A sense of belonging: feeling respected, valued for who you are; feeling a
level of supportive energy and commitment from others so that you can do your
best. It is about valuing all individuals, giving equal access and opportunity to
all and removing discrimination and other barriers to involvement.
Miller and Katz (2002)

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed individuals can change the

world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

SUMMARY
Change Agents for School Education and Research (CASER), a broad-based platform working
towards quality education, hosted educators, experts, doctors, teachers, academicians,
researchers, NGOs, working in the area of inclusive and special needs education and experts
from the Department of School Education, Government of Maharashtra (GoM) for a day-long
roundtable on, Transforming Inclusive Education through Innovations: dreams, designs and
solutions for education of children with special needs on 27 November, 2014. The event was
co-organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Mumbai, Sols Arc and Atma. The event
was attended by close to 60 experts working in different aspects of special education. The
attendees included the parent of an autistic child, an MBA student who had a challenging
livelihood since he was born deaf, special educators working at the grass-root level in rural
Maharashtra and doctors from government hospitals.
The discussion focused on three key areas of Disability Certification and Education Concessions,
Pedagogies for Special children and governance/ policy issues in Inclusive Education.
Everyone agreed that theres a need to educate everyone in the society and government
towards an inclusive mind-set, and the needs of children with disabilities. The system will also
need to be significantly ramped up to handle the different challenges. The key takeaways and
recommendations that emerged from the discussion are highlighted in the next page.
The experts lamented that they are not involved in the process of education from planning,
policy making to implementation and assessment.
Marking a departure from this perception, the government actively participated in the
discussion, and emphasised the need to jointly work towards improving the overall quality of
education, especially education for children with special needs, that is currently not given the
desired and much needed attention. As an immediate follow-up, GoM has invited all experts
to join a discussion on how they can participate in the plan for school education, for the year
2015, with focus on inclusive and special needs education on 5th December, 2014 at ORF
Mumbai (from 11 am to 2 pm).

Key Takeaways

1. Theres an urgent need to move education for special children from Ministry of Social
Justice and Welfare to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Currently
several education and development needs are being compromised this shift will be
critical to move from a mode of welfare and rehabilitation to inclusion and
empowerment.
2. Mainstream education of special children in regular schools, as far as possible. Teachers
who can provide care and education to special children should receive attractive
incentives, so that best talent comes to this profession.
3. It is important for the government and society to move to a social model of inclusion
from the current medical model. The social model is one that looks at eliminating
different barriers to education and care, so that children reach their full potential and
become self-reliant by not pushing them out of the system.
4. The government should open adequate number of schools for special children needing
serious attention and therapy. The government should also adequately support NGOs
engaged in this service.
5. Special education, especially after the eighth standard should focus on skill development
and generating livelihood. The National Skill Development Mission can play a crucial role
here.
6. Process for disability certification and education concessions needs to be simplified, and
made more accessible and available which includes increasing capacity.
7. We need to define learning disability and its different types better and increase
awareness and response readiness.
8. We need to form core groups that can work together on different focus areas and make
recommendations and suggest scalable, replicable and sustainable solutions to the
government. The areas include pedagogy, curriculum and resources, teacher training,
assessment and evaluation, impact assessment of government programmes, next steps
on education concessions, early detection and intervention, charting the long-term plan
and even conducting studies, research and pilots.

9.

SESSION1: INCLUSIVE EDUCATION LANDSCAPE, DISABILITY

CERTIFICATION & EDCUATIONAL CONCESSIONS

The roundtable began with a presentation

4. There are an estimated 50 million or

by Ms Sakina Chhil, Sols Arc on

even more children with disabilities in

Inclusive

the country but they barely have any

Education:

The

current

Scenario What is good, what is not?

access

to

any

kind

of

early

intervention!

The issues include:

WHAT

1. Inclusion in India is not taking place

WE

NEED

IS

SHIFT

IN

PERSPECTIVE .

today in the true sense; there is

physical inclusion of children within

The world today has moved decades

mainstream

ahead from the medical model to the

classrooms

with

no

social model. However in India we still

emphasis on learning outcomes.

look at all issues from the medical model

2. A child with special needs today faces

perspective instead of the social model.

a gamut of obstacles that hold him

We still look at the person with disability

back from achieving and learning to

as the problem; instead we as a society

the best of the potential.

should be looking how we have created

3. For instance, compare the facilities

barriers for them and therefore remove

and services available to a regular

the barriers.

child and a child with special needs:

Educational

Normal

Special

opportunities

child

needs child

Curriculum

Learning Materials

Recognised Certification

Appropriate
Evaluations
Higher Learning
opportunities
Job opportunities
Productive member of
the society

Painting made by special children at Sols Arc

Government

Schemes

for

Inclusive

d. Integrated support in a regular

Education

school, with full support of a

special educator.

Various schemes under the Government

e. Mapping of special teachers

of India and Government of Maharashtra

f. Schedule

have been implemented for Special

(CWSN)

through

the

g. Special

Sarva

h. Resource

age group of 6 to 14 years under SSA-IED

Madhyamik

j.

group of 14 to 18+ years under RMSA(Inclusive

Education

for

teacher

provision,

room

for

integrated

i. Transport/ attendant facility

Shiksha

Abhiyan (RMSA) for children in the age

IEDSS

expert

support in school

(Inclusive Education for the Disabled)

Rashtriya

by

disability-wise

Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for children in the

and

visits

resources.

Education for Children with Special

Needs

of

Aid/Appliances/corrective surgery

k. Teacher Training

the
Mr

There has been a significant increase in

Shrinivas Shastri, the Under Secretary of

enrolments and facilities through these

Department of School Education and

schemes over the years. However IED and

Sports,

IEDSS schemes face a few issues:

Disabled at Secondary Stage).

Government

of

Maharashtra

outlined the details:

1. Enrolments

have

increased

but

The following support is offered towards

children find it difficult to cope with

the education for CWSN:

the content taught in schools.

1. Psychological,

Educational

2. The

and

have

difficulties

adjusting in class.

Physical Assessments

3. Evaluations are difficult.

2. Options of:

4. Parents and teachers feel insecure

a. Early identification (0-6 years) now

about the students.

under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya

Karyakram under Women and
Children

children

Department

5. The schemes are unable to reach out to

(RBSK/

children on streets and in rural, far-off,

WCD).

and remote areas.

b. Classroom support, provided by

6. Attitudinal barriers still persist.

the class teacher.

7. Retention of children is tough.

c. Inclusive support with partial

8. Care for older children is difficult.

support of a special educator.

The future plans of IED and IEDSS

Certificate that came with an expiry date

include:

and did not serve the final purpose of him

1. Early detection and intervention;

being able to sit for his examinations.

Apart from this, a few test materials were

2. Handbook on Inclusive Education and

available only in Hindi or Marathi.

adaptive curriculum;

Currently,

3. Monitoring;
4. Vocational

and

skill

there

are

many

issues

regarding the Disability certification and

based

programmes home-based as well as

concession, which affects the self-esteem

in coordination with ITI centres;

of CWSN.

5. Workshops,

Counselling,

Teacher

training;

Many of the deviant behaviours we

see are from children who are
excluded.

6. Grievance redressal forum and parent

group;

7. Therapies including sensory training

Many children end up getting pushed

out of the mainstream system towards

and therapeutic equipment.

the

decided in a follow-up meeting on 5th

2014,

between

the

government,

special

educators

and

Institute

of

Open

Schooling (NIOS).

The action plan going forward will be

December,

National

Principals and parents are unaware of

disabilities and also of concessions
and provisions.

interested organisations. The different

Theres a dearth of government

hospitals

stakeholders will work together on the

offering

disability

certification, resulting in long waiting

relevant SSA and RMSA projects.

periods.

Also,

due

to

multi-

department dependence, the process

Disability Certification & Educational

Concessions for children with
disabilities

is extremely cumbersome.
It was widely agreed that everyones

The mother of an autistic 16 year old to

attitude towards disability needs to be

narrate her woeful tale of how she had to

changed: moving from a pure medical

take her son to the hospital, for a battery

disability model to a social model,

of tests. She had to visit the hospital close

where society adapts to the disabilities

to 17 times, not to mention long waiting

and difficulties of the child. Educational

periods in between, for a Disability

concession and certification should also be

rethought of, in this context the child

assured and confident. We need to ensure

should be provided an environment to

that the child can stay in the system

perform, rather than being branded

happily, rather than be in a hurry to say a

negatively. The existing processes should be

bye.

made simpler and

faster, with lesser

While, the roundtable

procedural

was

barriers. This is
in

fact

discussing

the

various solutions that

the

theme of Sols

had been suggested,

Arcs campaign,

Mr Shastri reminded

which

everyone that, In the

was

elaborated
Ms

by

The self-esteem of a student is also based on

Jinisha

whether he/ she can get an autograph from all

from

teachers and whether a principal patted him/

Chedda

her on the back. Currently, exclusion is

Sols ARC.
One

should

look

at

happening big time! We need to cross-sensitise

ourselves. SSC exam should cease to be just a
rote-ability tracking exam.

accrediting

Government, we have to
think about over 74,000
special kids. Solutions
should

consider

feasibility

and

their
macro-

impact.
~ Dr Harish Shetty

organisations for

Dr Shetty summed up

certification
under the supervision of government all

the morning session in three points, The

kinds of certification do not need the

points

intervention of medical doctors. Uniform

provisions/accommodation

and better learning outcomes should be given

that

intellectually

higher priority.

are

emerging

disabled,

are
for

urgency

for

increasing number of equipped and

Dr Harish Shetty, renowned psychiatrist

certified centers, disability does not cause

and activist, who moderated the session

loss of self-esteem it is the response from

emphasised on inclusivity and the role

system. Lets see to it that children are not

that society and government should play

pushed out of the system.

in making sure that the child feels self-

SESSION2: TEACH THE WAY THEY LEARN: INNOVATIONS IN

PEDAGOGY

The roundtable discussing the move from medical disability model to social model
The post-lunch session saw a presentation

basic literacy skills by the end of their

chaired by Ms Sonali Saini, Founder

schooling years;

Chairperson

Sol's

Arc.

The

session

Higher learning skills as well as

vocational skills that are required for

focussed on the need for making support

job opportunities and self-reliance are

learning materials available to children

unavailable.

with disabilities. This can significantly

result in improved learning outcomes. The
issues in learning for inclusion are:

The pace of learning is too fast;

The adaptation of learning material is

dependent on the teachers skills and
abilities;

Today Inclusion is only physical

There is no standardisation of learning

milestones

or

accountability

inclusion of children in class with no

for

onus for learning outcomes.

learning outcomes most children with

~ Sonali Saini

special needs do not achieve even the

The roundtable participants opined on

education could play a great role in further

other pedagogies and curricula for children

improving

the

quality

with special needs

there

were
on

textbooks

research,

information

several

and

generating

viewpoints, but many

agreed

of

using

solutions

to

as

problems

in

powerful tools, but

education.

only in the hands of a

will also improve

well-trained teacher,

the

who has autonomy

and can personalise
learning experiences.
Ideally all teachers

This

Mr Shastri suggesting that a pilot study be

conducted and follow-up core groups be formed,
for focused discussion and action.

should be inclusive / special educators

synergy

between

needs

and goals of the

government

and

researchers.

since special education, helps teachers to

teach better, more attuned to the diverse

Dr Shakuntala Kale, Deputy Director,

needs of children. We should also

MSCERT as well as Mr Shastri suggested

formalise M.Ed and B.Ed programmes in

that inputs from the Government and

inclusive and special needs education, so

that

more

teachers

can

be

MSCERT should be considered and a pilot

trained,

sensitised and more relevant research and

study should be conducted after a joint

progress can be made.

discussion on pedagogy adaptations, and

Dr Suvarna Kharat, Project Coordinator,

adoption at a large scale.

RMSA emphasised that, a R&D policy for

L to R: Dr Suvarna Kharat ; Mrs Nisha Grover addressing the participants

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SESSION

3:

FROM

EXCLUSION

AND

REHABILITATION

TO

INCLUSION AND EMPOWERMENT

Mrs Nisha Grover, President, National

The group agreed that the term

Convention of Educators of the Deaf, India

learning disabilities needs to be defined

emphasised on how a childs fundamental

right to

better, and one also needs to remove the

education is compromised due

term mental retardation from everyones

to the fragmentation between MHRD and

vocabulary.

Ministry of Social Justice and Welfare.

Applauding

the

openness

and

CASER is proud to announce the

approachability of the government, Mr

success

Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman, Observer

Research

of

its

effort

to

get

the

Government and the NGOs, experts

Foundation

and

Mumbai, remarked how

researchers

todays roundtable is a

working on education

testament of how proactive

for special children on

and sensitive people can

the

become agents of change

by

making

constructive

the
noise.

right,

recommendations

and

lobby the government to

The

December is expected

He
the

side.

follow-up session on 5th

to deliver some tangible

encouraged the forum to

concretise

same

Mr Kulkarni encouraged all to

concretise the recommendations
and lobby the government.

markers to guide this

coalescence

of

goals

and processes between

bring about change, both at

the Government of Maharashtra and

the Centre and at the State. He felt that

vocational and life-skills development is

the civil society. ORF will strengthen

key and only by providing that to the

this process and play the role of a

children can we ensure that they are self-

guiding agent to reduce the dichotomy

reliant and live in dignity.

between the government and the civil

society working on school education.

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OBSERVER RESEARCH FOUNDATION MUMBAI

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) is a leading non-partisan

Indian think-tank that seeks to influence public policy formulation. It
was established in New Delhi in 1990 by R.K. Mishra, a widely
respected public figure, who envisaged it as a broad-based intellectual platform
pulsating with ideas needed for Indias nation-building.
ORF has brought together leading Indian policy makers, academics, public figures,
social activists and business leaders to discuss various issues of national importance.
ORF scholars have made significant contributions toward improving government
policies. ORF has produced a large body of critically acclaimed publications.
Beginning 2010, ORF Mumbai has been established to pursue the Foundations vision
in Indias business and financial capital. Its research and advocacy is in six broad
areas:

Education, Public Health, Inclusive Development, Urban Renewal, Youth

Development, and Promotion of Indias Priceless Artistic and Cultural Heritage.

ORF Mumbais mission statement is: Ideas and Action for a Better India.
ORF Mumbai has set up a few platforms for focused work on different initiatives
Change Agents for School Education and Research, Change Agents for Higher
Education and Research (currently pursuing reforms in science and engineering
education), Mumbai Solar Mission, Mumbai Transport Forum, Placemaking, Mumbai
against Tuberculosis, Drive against Diabetes, Malaria, Dengue.
Recently, ORF Mumbai has set up the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Cleanliness,
Sanitation and Community Health to work towards Swachh Bharat, Mission 2019 in
partnership with a community based organisation, Triratna Prerana Mandal.
Contact us at:
Observer Research Foundation Mumbai
NKM International House, 5th Floor,
178 Backbay Reclamation, Babubhai Chinai Marg,
Mumbai 400 020
aparna@orfonline.org
Please be a part of the Change Agents for School Education and Research (CASER):
Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/ORF.CASER

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