Awareness key to success of inclusive education

There is a lack of awareness in India when its comes to extending help to socially disadvantaged groups, said the speakers at a discussion on inclusive education at Jadavpur University on Friday.

The discussion, a part of Anweshan 2009, was organised by Anwesha an association of parents and well-wishers of children and persons with hearing impairment. Speaking on the occasion, assistant commissioner (disabilities), K S Adhikary, said: “Constituting only 2% of the population, the physically challenged are considered a minority in India. We don’t have time for them.”

Sharing his experience as a state government officer, Adhikary said his department organises several seminars round the year on inclusive education. But there is a lack of interest. “We had once organised a foundation course, but had to drop it as no one enrolled,” he said.

Several mainstream schools have denied admission to disabled students on grounds that their teachers lack the requisite training. But the discussion pointed out that the government organises courses to train teachers in this aspect at a nominal rate.

Kartick Sen, registrar of Netaji Subhash Engineering College, said: “Every school should have seats reserved for disabled students.”

Pradipta Kanungo, principal of Patha Bhavan Montessori and Primary School, said they always encourage students with hearing impairment to take admission in their school. “Some of them are more meritorious than my normal students,” she said.

The second part of the programme saw a host of cultural activities organised by Prayas, a group working with underprivileged children. Students of Jadavpur Vidyapith, Patha Bhavan and children of Anwesha took part in it.

Source: Times of India

Inclusive education

Ironically, selective admission policies reduce the incentive to excel in even better institutions, finds Vidya Mahambare

High-quality education creates opportunities and choices for personal success and growth. It is natural, therefore, for parents to spend a lot of time and energy in pursuit of good schools and colleges for their offspring. With the demand for quality educational institutions far outstripping its supply, the so-called reputed schools manage to get in the driver’s seat by attracting smarter students via strict selection criteria. As a result, only potential high academic achievers are admitted in good quality institutions while lesser mortals end up in the low-quality ones. A clear hierarchy of educational institutions as well as of students, in turn, influences the future pay-off from education.

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Hillary calls for inclusive education

Though the education system in the U.S. is good, its reach is not entirely inclusive, visiting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said here on Saturday.

“We have great universities but not for everyone and not for students who fall behind.”

Ms. Clinton said education was an issue “very near and dear” to her heart.

The occasion was a discussion at St. Xavier’s College, on the state of education in India and the U.S., where she had for company Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. She praised him for being an “advocate for education.”

To make education more inclusive, Ms. Clinton said, India could experiment and see if imparting education in Indian languages helped students instead of laying emphasis on English.

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