Title: Creating Inclusive Schools in India Challenges and lessons learned
1Creating Inclusive Schools in India Challenges
and lessons learned
- Imtiaz Mohammed Head of Programmes Asia and
AmericasLeonard Cheshire Disability
2Indian context
Official Census 21.9 million disabled people.
Of this, 52 (11 million) are illiterate
- Children with disabilities 5 times more likely to
be out-of-school than average. - Children with disabilities rarely progress beyond
primary education i.e. their presence in
secondary and higher education is almost nil. - Illiteracy extremely high among children with
visual, multiple and intellectual disabilities. - Among people with mild disabilities illiteracy is
50, Severe disabilities it is 75.
Source People with Disabilities in India From
Commitments to Outcomes, World Bank, Jul 09
3Indian context
Good Policies in place
- India ratified UNCRPD, signatory of Salamanca
Declaration - National Persons with Disabilities Act which
mentions rights based entitlement to basic
education for disabled people - Government Universal Education Programme (Sarva
Siksha Abhiyaan SSA) has a special focus on
inclusion education. Key features of SSA - - Cash grant of Rs1200 (24) per year/child
- Emphasis on micro-planning local education
departments given leeway to plan - Involvement of other stakeholders like - resource
institutions, NGOs etc. - Zero-rejection policy (No child having special
needs can be denied enrollment)
4Initiatives of Leonard Cheshire Disability
A regional programme across 4 countries
(Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
- Reaching out to 2701 children with disabilities.
- 107 Child to child clubs formed
- 2381 teachers trained
- 217 schools made physically accessible
Figures as on September 09
5Core Areas of Work
Therapy, Aids, Basic training in mobility,
behavioral training, communication skills,
Caregiver training
Preparatory support
Sensitisation of school management, Facilitating
enrolment, Accessibility home and transport
Enrollment support
School accessibility, Teacher training, Peer
sensitisation, Accessible learning material,
tuitions etc., Access to govt. scholarships,
pensions
Retention support
6Key Challenges
- Data on number of CwDs and their educational
status not available/accurate - Negative attitudes of parents and school staff
towards CwDs - Inaccessible physical environment
- Inflexible curriculum, teaching and evaluation
methods
7 Key Challenges
- Poverty
- Often inflexible government bureaucracy
- Enrollment of CwDs with moderate and
severe/mulitple disabilities difficult - NGOs and Govt agencies hesitant to collaborate
with the projects as they feel addressing
disability is a specialised area and they need to
spend more resources.
8Lessons Learned
- A collaborative approach with government and NGOs
is needed for sustainability. Do not duplicate - A good referral network should be established
with local resources (aids/appliances, hospitals,
block resource centres, Govt departments, NGOs
etc) - Involving the community, specially parents is
important. - Special education/Resource Teacher support is
essential
9 Lessons Learned
- IE is not just about education. Promote
socialization among CwDs and their peers through
Childrens Clubs and other extracurricular
activities. - For grievance redressal facilitate formation of
SHGs/Parents groups - Create demonstrable models which serve as an
effective tool for influencing policy . - One size does not match all - a customised
approach for each child depending on their
disability
10Evaluation what have we seen?
- 68 of children with disabilities (girls 40
and boys 60) have been retained in primary
education in the target areas. - There has been a marked improvement in the
visibility of children with disabilities in
schools compared to the previous years. - The knowledge of the school community on
disability is evolving, and they have
demonstrated positive attitudes. Teachers are
also gradually acquiring skills on disability.
Accessibility in schools is also beginning to
improve.
11Evaluation what have we seen?
- In some locations, the projects are being invited
by government and non-government organizations as
resource persons in training programmes on
inclusive education. - The projects have established referral networks
to enable persons with disabilities access to
services from various organizations like
hospitals, government agencies etc.
12I love to go to school
13I love to go to school..
- My name is Sumair, I live in Gonekoppal, Coorg,
India. I love listening to music. I had never
thought that one day I would go to school. I used
to feel very lonely without anyone to play with
and was afraid of the children who teased me. - Then one day people from Cheshire Home Coorg
visited my family, talked to me and my parents.
After a few days they cam again and took
measurements of my body and got me a special
chair, which was very comfortable. They also
taught my parents ho to support me in my daily
life. My dream of playing with other children
came true when they took me to their Day Care
Centre. There I met several other children and
learned to read and write.
14I love to go to school
- Later, I was taken to nearby Government School
(Ammathy) where lots of children study. They
spoke to the school management about my admission
and got me enrolled there. I cannot forget my
first day at the big school. I was hesitant and
spoke little. But the teacher was good to me and
so were the others. I am happy now and the best
part is that I love to go to school
15Children at school
16Volunteers training
17Caregivers training
18ADLS training
19Speech therapy training to care givers
20Campaigning for education
21Block level education department officials
training
22Accessible school
23Adapted learning materials
24Thank you!!!