Education for Children with Special Needs in Chandigarh: An Inclusive Approach

Description

Page: 183-186

Kamal Dev (Department of Community Education and Disability Studies, Panjab University Chandigarh)

The present paper focuses on including children with special needs in the government schools of Chandigarh. In the present scenario, these children with special needs were taught along with the children without special needs in an inclusive classroom environment without any discrimination based on the disability academic, economic, or social background of the child. To promote inclusion in government schools all schools should be barrier-free environments or accessible for children with special needs. A teacher often deals with both types of students in the classroom that is students with special needs and students without special needs which promotes inclusion. This study deals with the current status of inclusion and special education services available for children with special needs in Chandigarh. The provision provided by the education department for the inclusion of children with special needs through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be discussed in this paper. After exploring the data in Chandigarh ratio between resource teachers and children with special needs is much more than the ratio certified by the Right to Education Act 1:15. The study also highlighted the lack of awareness among parents and the lack of a conducive environment at the school level. Thus, there is a dire need to reduce the ratio of resource teachers and children with special needs in government school, and counseling sessions should be organized for parents of such children.