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(GIST OF YOJANA) Encourages Inclusive Education

[February-2022]

Encourages Inclusive Education

Context:

The National Education Policy 2020 makes available the provisions for exemplars like Barkhaa: A Reading Series for ‘All’ and other accessible material, which have not been used widely so far, to reach classrooms and transform the way in which all students learn.

Aim:

This support in the nationwide policy document is essential so that initiatives in inclusion and equitable education do not remain limited in use and scope.
There can be systemic support for the development of accessible and language-appropriate teaching-learning material, assistive devices and technology-based tools, inclusion funds, teacher training, resource centres, and more so that schools are equipped to include children with disabilities.

Accessibility in the Current NCERT Curriculum:

Due to how central textbooks are in the education of all children from a young age, it is imperative that textbooks espouse ideas that are inclusive, that are representative of people and stories of diverse backgrounds and abilities, and that do not perpetuate discriminatory attitudes or stereotypes.
In the current NCERT textbooks developed post the NCF 2005, inclusion has been ensured in the content of various chapters and subjects across school grades, rather than being limited to one chapter or subject. Inclusion is covered in various forms in the textbooks— in chapters, poems, notes for teachers, and evaluation questions. In the primary classes, this is done through the activities which involve all children through the use of concrete objects along with stories and class engagement activities. In the higher classes, there are sections in the psychology textbooks which discuss disability in a detailed manner.
When it comes to accessing NCERT textbooks, efforts have been made via print and digital initiatives. On the ePathshala portal, e-versions are freely available for all textbooks from grades 1-12.
The ePathshala mobile app allows for Text To Speech (TTS) which makes the content accessible to persons with disabilities related to low vision. Further, there are diagrams in both braille and text for Economics, and educational learning kits for Mathematics, Science, and Languages at upper primary, secondary and senior secondary levels which include 3-D shapes, paper cut-outs, geo-boards, abacus, etc., which due to their tactile nature promote learning environments
for all children, including those with disabilities in a regular classroom.

Accessible Textbooks for ‘All’

NCERT’s module ‘Towards Accessible Textbooks for All’ in collaboration with the National Institute of Special Education, the Republic of Korea, took forward the learning from the Barkhaa series to adapt nine stories and poems from NCERT textbooks of Class 1 to 5 into accessible digital formats (different types of audio tracks, videos which included sign language).

E-Content for Accessibility:

The e-content guidelines by NCERT were in the works before the Covid-19 pandemic, building on the Universal Design for Learning (UDL)-based exemplar materials already developed and the ways in which e-learning could be made more accessible for all, particularly children with disabilities.
They aim to promote the development of high-quality accessible content for children with disabilities and strengthen momentum for inclusive classrooms as envisioned in NEP 2020.

They are framed on the basis of four cardinal principles, namely, that the e-content must be

perceivable- students must be able to perceive content via any sense,
operable- students must be able to manipulate and control the content,
understandable- students should be able to comprehend the content and the operations such as the instructions, and
robust, which means that students should be able to access the content on a range of devices— a laptop, a desktop, a tablet, or a smartphone.

The Guidelines lay out standards and guidelines for three components of e-content— namely pedagogy, technology, and content. They emphasise that e-content developed must be user-friendly and tested to see how children from diverse backgrounds and abilities respond to it.

Way forward:

Inclusion in education is a process- it will not take place overnight with NEP 2020, nor with any single project or publication. But all of these are critical landmarks on our path towards building a society which is inclusive and just for all children.
There are thousands and thousands of Priyas and Sumits in the country. It is not their responsibility, nor the responsibility of any child with a disability to navigate the education system which has historically failed and excluded them. Nor is it the responsibility of parents or the community, even though we have much to learn from them and we must forge meaningful collaborations with them.
It is our responsibility— teachers and educators, Policy makers, administrators, and governments to come together and always keep the child as our priority in whatever we do. In doing this, we can hope to make our schools places where all children, regardless of disability, can learn together in a community. And when the schools are provided support to teach children with disabilities, all children, including those without disabilities, learn better.