The push towards fulfilling the promise of education for all, and leaving no one behind, has resulted in a sharp increase in children who were traditionally kept out of the formal education system, now gaining access to schools in many countries. In India alone, a country with a rich and progressive policy landscape, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children with disabilities enrolling in mainstream schools in recent years.
The most recent initiative, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, oversees the implementation of the Right to Education Act from pre-school to Year 12. It has a broader goal of improving school effectiveness in terms of equal opportunities and equitable learning outcomes and aims to ‘enable all children and young persons with disabilities to have access to inclusive education and improve their enrollment, retention, and achievement in the general education system’ [Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), 2018].
The Nagaland Board of School Education (NBSE) also expects all schools to demonstrate inclusive practices while imparting education to children. All educational institutions registered under NBSE have been given guidelines to make education accessible for children with special needs (CWSN). Teachers have been asked to provide remedial teaching to CWSN if they require it, and schools have been instructed to make the infrastructure and premises disabled-friendly.
However, despite recognizing teachers as key facilitators in the delivery of inclusive education, very little attention has been paid to the preparedness and competency of teachers, effective support networks, and teachers’ professional development opportunities to embrace inclusive education in both government and private schools in our state. Further, the challenges of insufficient resources, including facilities and non-teaching staff, and well-trained educators, cannot be disregarded.
Much has been said and written about the unwillingness of parents of CWSN to send their wards to schools due to societal discrimination or about people being unenthusiastic about their children being identified as CWSN during surveys. But truth be told, our schools, by far, are ill-equipped and teachers unprepared for inclusive education to be materialized into reality. After all, as the Advisor of School Education said, “Teachers are not slaves.”
Despite commendable initiatives like Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and the expectations set by the NBSE for inclusive practices, the truth is that our schools are ill-equipped and teachers unprepared for the practical implementation of inclusive education in the real sense of the term. It is also imperative to address the inherent unfairness of expecting teachers to fulfill their regular duties while simultaneously attending to the needs of CWSN when they are not adequately equipped for such responsibilities.
As the Advisor of School Education rightly pointed out, “Teachers are not slaves.” It is fair to say that this also emphasizes the need for a more equitable and supportive approach toward educators in the pursuit of inclusive education.