Inclusive education for persons with disabilities in the backdrop of Indian legislations

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Page: 1375-1378

Mohd. Faijullah Khan (Department of Teacher Training & Non-Formal Education, Faculty of Education, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi) M. Khyothunglo Humtsoe (Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi, New Delhi)

Inclusive Education (IE) is a matter of right thereby it paves the ways for every child to learn in an environment that caters to her/his individual needs. To make this right reality, it is incumbent upon the lawmakers to bring about adequate legislations. The philosophy of IE will only be achieved through concerted efforts to remove all sorts of barriers, by harmonizing multiple institutions/agencies functioning, capacity building of all the stakeholders, ensuring people’s participation and resource mobilization. Sufficient policies are already in place in India to make an effective start; what is needed is implementation and auditing to ensure that all stakeholders are mandated to comply with legislations in place for persons with disabilities. To make institutions comply, the Government can initiate benchmark for accessibility auditing and provide funds accordingly. An important step toady will be a National Policy on Inclusive Education for us to take forward the philosophy of IE in India. We need to re-affirm our education goals that is based on all-round development and is value based rather than achievement-oriented goals.