Inclusion-evidence based strategies

Pages: 290-293
Dhananjay Deshmukh (Department of Education, Lady Irwin College, Delhi University, New Delhi )

Inclusion is a term which expresses commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent appropriate in the school and classroom. It involves bringing the support services to help and assist the child (rather than shifting the child to the services) and requires only that the child will benefit from being in the class (rather than having to keep up with the other students). Proponents of inclusion generally favour newer forms of imparting education. Full inclusion means all students regardless of handicapping condition or severity will be in a regular classroom/program for whole time. All services must be taken to the child in that setting. Inclusive education has been internationally recognized as a philosophy for attaining equity, justice and quality education for all children especially those who have been traditionally excluded from mainstream education for reasons of disability, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics. Inclusive education is defined by UNESCO as a process of addressing and responding to the diverse needs of all learners by increasing participation in learning and reducing exclusion within and from educational. This means that all children have the right to a quality education that caters to the extent possible to their individual needs. Some countries have been successful in promoting inclusive education practices and policies that remove barriers and create conditions which enable all children to learn. However in poorer developing inclusive countries the process of creating an inclusive system is more difficult. Factors such as lack of available funding, administrative and policy level support, trained personnel and evidence based strategies pose challenges that can slow down progress. In the previous part of this paper author discussed about what is meant by evidence based strategies. In the present paper an attempt has been made to discuss about such evidence based practices and strategies in detail.