Abstract:
The present study aims to explore the inclusion of the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) in government run schools of Kolkata. The world has been consistently trying to build an inclusive society, where initiating inclusive education has been a foundational pillar. Post the Jomtien Declaration of 1990, inclusive education assumed to be a forthcoming realty, since the Declaration stressed on ‘Education for All’, with an exclusive focus on eradicating all forms of discrimination in accessing education. In the present day, education is recognized as a primary agent of mobility and empowerment, hence making education accessible to all is seen as an important step towards promoting an inclusive society.
In congruence with the Salamanca Conference, India launched its inclusive education programme with the RTE Act of 2009, which mandated free and compulsory elementary education. As a consequence, India’s government run schools followed ‘admission for all’ irrespective of any stratification. Children with Special Needs were granted admission in all the government run schools where the philosophy of inclusive education voiced for inclusive school where needs of the diverse learners will be taken care of. In spite of all such policy imperatives, theoretical discourses often concluded that Children with Special Needs were often made aware about their exceptionalities, where disabled students are often subjected to marginalization as well as isolation. The present thesis aims to uncover the process of inclusion of Children with Special Needs in government run schools of Kolkata, where the study primarily tries to be inclusive by prioritizing the voices of the CWSN, who are acknowledged as the central characters of the inclusive education policy.
The present study followed a critical ethnographic method to understand the culture of inclusive school through the lens of the stakeholders, including teachers, parents, special educators as well as students. Accommodating the diverse needs of the learners requires developing an inclusive environment which will enhance the participation rate of the students involved. Furthermore, an inclusive environment of the school also involves inclusive friendly infrastructure which will help in self-reliance and empowerment of the CWSN. Hence, practicing inclusion in schools is a complex phenomenon which involves multicharacter as well as other dynamics. The present thesis aims to explore the inclusion of Children with Special Needs in government run schools of Kolkata. Here the government run schools follow a ‘resource room model’ based inclusion of special needs children, where special educators help them to cope with the teaching learning process. Thus, resource rooms served to be one of the significant places where I interacted with the special needs children as well as their parents, since the study wanted to capture the voices of special needs children and their interpretation of the process of inclusion in regular schools.
