Inclusive Education – The role of Teachers and Local Government

 

                                                                                             By: Prabhakar Jaiswal

We live in a world of diversities and individual differences. Such diversities and different become too pronounced in the case of varying sets of Children with Special Needs. The Children with Special Needs are those who deviate from the so called normal or averages in their various personality dimensions so much so as to demand special care, attention and measures for their adequate adjustment, welfare and progress in their life. However, under any circumstances, we can’t ignore or avoid this challenge. As a democratic country wedded to the ideals of equality, equity and fraternity, we are bounded to provide an equal and fair access to all our youngsters irrespective of their normality or exceptionally. As result “Education for all” slogan should be compulsion for us.

The Government of Nepal/NGOs/INGOs has kept an effort through different programs seeking education for all. The success of these programs depend on the curriculum, school and teachers. This task is really tedious and challenging. It needs a thorough change in the outlook and working of those who are associated with the processes and product of the school education.  In this respect the local government play an important role. The local government should understand what the aims of education are. It should consider the objectives of curriculum and understand the processes of learner and school development. In inclusive education every child has a diverse need. Children develop physically at different ratio and this difference affects the learning capacity of learner. The local government must consider this difference and maintain the physical structure of the school considering this issue. Not only this the local government should manage such type of teacher who can satisfy the need of the children as far as practicable. The teacher should remain alert always in order to meet the needs of the students. Teachers should adopt special curriculum transaction strategies to fulfillment of educational objectives. There are various strategies adopted by the teacher for transaction of special curriculum as Cognitive strategies are based on logical thinking. Inclusive education is all about making classrooms responsive to the needs of the learner. It stresses on child centered pedagogy using peer tutoring, co-operative learning and group-learning. For this special type of teaching, Palikas and teachers are equally responsible.

The disable children need special classroom, special teacher and special environment. These should be maintained through the coordination between Palika and School. Palika should help schools in improving the physical structure of school and management of teachers. If children with special needs are included in an ordinary class, it is the responsibility of the teacher to ensure that all children have access to the curriculum. To make the curriculum accessible to Children with Special Needs, teacher can either modify the material or adapt the strategy.

The education system in Nepal is changing. They interact constantly with their non-disabled peers. It affects their development in areas related to academics, physical self, active self and social self. The inclusion process is facilitated through support received from school, local government, resource teachers, and parents. finally, the curriculum should be accessible to all children and for this specialist support would be required. Care then has to be exercised to ensure that learners with special needs are not segregated from the mainstream by providing this specialist support. How the school organizes itself to be an effective school that takes care of the individual needs of all pupils is another issue to be considered. While being flexible in the timetable and delivery of the curriculum, the school and local government should also provide for the resource support needed in the form of special educators, assistive devices, and teaching–learning material. The professional development of teachers and educators is an important issue and must incorporate attitudinal change, and the knowledge and skills necessary to lead to an inclusive society. So, we can say that a rose is still a rose when it loses a petal. A tree may lose some leaves, but it is still useful. Likewise, a human being can still be useful despite the loss of a physical faculty. The most unfortunate person in society is one who has sight but no vision. In order to understand the abilities of persons with disabilities, one needs to have a broad vision of humanistic values. all children have access to the curriculum. To make the curriculum accessible to Children with Special Needs, teacher can either modify the material or adapt the strategy and the local government should help the school from every angles.