Punarbhava-National Interactive Portal on Disability

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SSA) 

The key objective of SSA is Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE). Three mportant aspects of UEE are access, enrolment and retention of all children in 6-14 ears of age. This goal of UEE, has further been facilitated by the Constitutional (86th mendment) Act, making free and compulsory elementary education a Fundamental ight, for all the children in the age group of 6-14 years. This Amendment has given  new thrust to the education of Children With Special Needs (CWSN), as without heir inclusion, the objective of UEE cannot be achieved. In-fact inclusion of one of he groups, which is extremely crucial for UEE, is perhaps that of the CWSN. Hence, ducation of CWSN is an important component of SSA.

Provisions for CWSN under SSA

SSA provides upto Rs.1200/- per child for the inclusion of disabled children, as per pecific proposal, per year. District plan for children with special needs is formulated ithin the Rs.1200/- per child norm. The interventions under SSA for inclusive education are identification, functional and formal assessment, appropriate ducational placement, preparation of Individualized Educational Plan, provision of aids and appliances, teacher training, resource support, removal of architectural arriers, research, monitoring and evaluation and a special focus on girls with special eeds. The guidelines on inclusive education in SSA are given at Annex-I.

SSA’s Policy on Inclusion

SSA ensures that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind, category andegree of disability, is provided meaningful and quality education. Hence, SSA has dopted a zero rejection policy. This means that no child having special needs should
be deprived of the right to education and taught in an environment, which is best, uited to his/her learning needs. These include special schools, EGS, AIE or even come-based education.

The major thrust of SSA is on inclusion or mainstreaming CWSN into the fabric of normal elementary schooling. Experiences of programmes like DPEP and various research findings have shown that inclusion is best determined by the individual eeds of the child. Most children with special needs can be enrolled and retained in regular schools if adequate resource support is provided to them, whereas there are others who might have to be provided some kind of pre-integration programmes, before they can be mainstreamed in a classroom. There might also be still some WSN with severe profound disabilities, who would require an educational programme and intensive specialized support completely beyond the purview and scope of a formal school in the current situation.

Thus, SSA has adopted a more expansive and a broad-based understanding of the concept of inclusion, wherein a multi-option model of educating CWSN is being implemented. The dual objective of embracing this model is to bring more CWSN under the umbrella of SSA and to provide to CWSN appropriate need based skills, be it vocational, functional literacy or simply activities of daily living. Further, an attempt is being made to provide these skills in the most appropriate learning environment.

Efforts so far

The implementation of this multi-option model of inclusion in SSA has been made possible due to the flexibility offered to each State by the programme. Although most SSA States have  dentified and enrolled CWSN in schools, they differ in the approaches and strategies adopted to achieve the ultimate objective of inclusion. States like A.P., Bihar, Madhya- Pradesh,  unjab, Rajasthan and U.P. have conducted residential bridge courses for CWSN with the main objective of preparing CWSN for schools, thereby endeavouring better quality inclusion for them. Whereas Rajasthan is conducting these bridge courses entirely through NGOs, U.P is  onducting them through the resource teachers especially recruited by the District SSA Societies for this purpose. Andhra- Pradesh has adopted a mixed model, with some districts conducting these courses through NGOs and others through the District SSA Societies. Besides this AIE model, 11 States are also covering CWSN through the EGS. So far in SSA, 112033 CWSN are being covered through AIE/EGS in 17 States. Another practice adopted by SSA States (21 States so far) is that of the home-based education for children with severe-profound disabilities with the objective of either preparing CWSN for schools or for life by imparting to them basic living skills. Again States have adopted different ways to provide home-based support to CWSN. States like Himachal-Pradesh and Uttarakhand are using NGOs for this purpose, whereas States like Haryana and Kerala have appointed resource teachers who visit the homes of CWSN to provide them basic functional skills. Still other States like Tamil- Nadu are using special schools as resource centers to provide short-time or part-time help to individual children with special needs and their parents. Parental counseling and vocational training are two important aspects of the entire home-based instruction programme. Through home-based education, SSA has been able to cover 77140 CWSN. A notable feature of this programme has been an increased and a sustainable school- community linkage by actively involving parents in the educational process of their CWSN.

No matter what the educational setting, it is widely accepted that there can be no inclusion of CWSN without adequate resource support. This aspect has been taken care of in SSA mainly through NGOs, inclusive education resource teachers (IERTs), volunteers or by imparting long- term training to regular teachers on inclusion. States like Haryana have opened model inclusive schools in every block and equipped them with all possible facilities (like transport, equipment for physio- therapy, occupational therapy, resource teachers etc.) mainly to provide all kinds of support services, including remedial teaching to CWSN.

22 States have appointed 6678 resource teachers and 687 NGOs are involved in the IE programme in 28 States. An important and unique facet of this involvement is the range of activities that the NGOs have undertaken in the States for IE. These activities vary from planning for inclusion as in West- Bengal, to implementation and monitoring of IE, like in Tamil- Nadu. Other States have engaged NGOs for designing and initiating innovative  rogrammes. These include theme-based camps in Orissa and development of low-cost/ no- cost simulation park for social inclusion of CWSN in every BRC of Tamil- Nadu to training of Key Resource Persons from the

Families of CWSN in West- Bengal and preparation of adapted TLM for CWSN in Karnataka.

Two additional forms of resource support, complimentary to each other, being provided to CWSN are through assistive devices and barrier free access. Both of these aim enhancement of the functional capacity/ mobility of CWSN to promote their easy access to the schools. 7.11 lakh CWSN (76.44% of the CWSN requiring aids and appliances) under SSA have been provided assistive devices through various modes. Some States like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and U.P. have converged with District Disability Rehabilitation Centers, local Red Cross, Composite Regional Centers, NGOs etc. and some States like Kerala and A.P. have made arrangements to

provide the necessary equipment to CWSN through the State Government supported organizations – like A.P. Viklaangula Corporative Corporation (APVCC) and Kerala State Electronic Development Corporation (KELTRON). However, the largest provider of aids and appliances to CWSN under SSA is ALIMCO (Artificial Limb Manufacturing Corporation of India), a public sector undertaking functioning under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJ&E) with which an agreement has been signed at the national level, as per which 60% of the cost of the assistive devices would be borne by MoSJ&E and 40% by the State SSA Societies. Schools are being made more schools have been made barrier-free and very focused efforts are being made by all the States to cover more schools in a phased manner.

The Outcome

These practices and innovations in SSA are no doubt leading to a gradual increased identification of CWSN. From 14.59 lakh CWSN identified in 2003-04, 30.38 laks have been  dentified in 2006-07. Similarly, the enrollment of CWSN in 2006-07 has gone up to 19.97 lakh CWSN as compared to 11.71 lakh CWSN in 2003-04. More CWSN are likely to be covered this year through various interventions and strategies. The current coverage of CWSN is 21.86 lakh (71.99%).

Besides increasing the physical coverage, the expenditure on inclusive education in SSA has also shown an upward trend. From a mere 26% expenditure in 2003-04, the States have shown an overall expenditure of 65.50% on CWSN inclusion related activities in 2005-06.

The Challenges

It can be seen from the foregoing that several novel initiatives have been taken up to address the divergent needs of special children. An endeavour has also been made to develop in teachers, the necessary attitude, skills and competencies required to deal effectively with children with various special educational needs. The focus of SSA is now on reaching out to those out of school CWSN, not covered so far and developing a strategy that will ensure that every child with special needs receives continuing on site support. This perhaps is the biggest challenge of all and a crucial determinant of the success of the inclusive education programme under SSA.

However, there are a few important issues in IE that also need to be adequately addressed. These have been listed below: