The Teachers Collective
The Teachers Collective aims to reframe inclusion in schools through building teacher capacity, offline and online through customised masterclasses and self-paced courses. They aim to create 1,00,000 inclusive educators in the next few years and can be reached at www.theteacherscollective.co.in
Imagine a child on the autism spectrum writing a board exam in an examination hall, with a few prompts from the invigilator… A child with Specific Learning Disability (SLD) addresses the school assembly with confidence, reading from the paper sometimes…. What about the child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) setting the sports field on fire, contributing to the school team as one of its stars?
At a time where the Paralympians have made the nation proud, it is heartening to note that one does not have to ‘imagine’ these situations anymore. These instances are true life stories in mainstream schools, supported by committed school leaders and well-equipped teachers, who recognise the needs of a diverse classroom and adapt teaching-learning for the development of ALL children.
While the Right to Education Act, 2009 made education a fundamental right for children aged 6 – 14 years, the Rights of People with Disabilities Act, 2016 requires that children with disabilities be included in schools. The National Education Policy 2020 goes further on the lines of the SDG 4 to ‘ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all’. This mission to further include an estimated 2.7 crore disabled Indian citizens in her development is welcome.
In the past, the ‘charity’ model of educating citizens with disabilities focused on their ‘special’ needs, requiring for something different and customised to be done in a classroom, creating a mindset that children with special needs needed special schools.
The conversation shifted to the ‘rights’ perspective because a significant portion of regular citizens would face either temporarily or permanent disability from sickness, injuries and old age. Policies were framed to eliminate barriers to inclusion like the mindsets of people, physical infrastructure, teaching methodologies, etc. to include and empower all citizens.
When high achievers like Richard Branson opened up about ‘dyslexic thinking’ being a superpower, helping him solve problems creatively and efficiently, minds opened up to the benefits that inclusion provides to the larger population, making systems stronger and more robust for everyone.
The big question is therefore to build teacher capacity so that inclusion goes beyond theory into practice. In our work with around 2,300 teachers, we have not come across even one teacher who actively did not want to include and teach all kinds of students.
Their questions were on the lines of:
I am not qualified to teach students with disabilities.
I have no time to do anything specific for one student.
I have 29 other students in a class of 30 and portions to complete.
Is it possible to have students with disabilities in a mainstream classroom?
In this series of articles on inclusion and inclusive practices, we will attempt to give teachers ideas on what they can do in their classrooms, elevating the level of teaching-learning for all students. The benefits of inclusive classrooms show up through increased empathy, problem solving and critical thinking skills in all students, making all-round development much more than a cliché.
Working with the spectrum of student needs over the years, teachers will experience the joy of their students contributing positively to society. Our students with significant learning difficulties have gone on to complete engineering degrees, among other careers, built on a strong foundation created in schools. The only issue with inclusion is that one enters a world of infinite possibilities!