Inclusion: Issues and Perspectives

Preface

Pressure has always been on government of the day to take the issue of Inclusion seriously. In spite of many acts passed by the government of different political hues, the scenario regarding admission, retention, continuation to the higher education and job opportunities has not changed much in favour of children with special needs. My association with different organizations, which are running either special or an integrated set-up, strengthened my conviction that Inclusion is the need of the hour. Our department admits students with challenges in its different programmes but not all of us are oriented to needed pedagogy for inclusion. The department offers courses on special education at B.Ed, M.Ed and at M.phil level. It has enrolled quite a number of scholars at M.phil and at Ph.D level to pursue their research in this area. There is an added dimension to this. The department has now given affiliation to Blind Relief Association and Lady Irwin College to run B.Ed Special Education course.

The moment has arrived for taking initiatives in the direction of dissemination of ideas and plans for the future move in the area of Inclusion. In the year 2006, we organized the first one-day seminar on “Inclusion” in the department under the chairmanship of Prof. U.S. Sharma. We had speakers from various institutes like Amar Jyoti, NIMH, Tamanna, Jamia Millia, and Blind Relief Association. Vice-Chancellor, University of Delhi, Prof Deepak Pental, graced the occasion and inaugurated the seminar. The keynote speaker was Dr. Uma Tuli, Ex-Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities GOI and the founder member of Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust. Other distinguished speakers were Prof. S.R. Mittal from Jamia Millia Islamia, Dr. Shyma Chona from Tamanna, Dr. S. Grover from NIMH and Dr. S. Sanyal from Blind Relief Association.

Dr. Thakur, the chairperson of NCTE delivered the validictory address. The response generated by the seminar prompted us to organize the second seminar on Inclusion in the year 2007. We had speakers from a broad array of institutions including NGOs. It was academicians, researchers and entrepreneurs who are working with a real pleasure to have a broader perspective as the speakers included the challenged people themselves at the ground level. Prof. Janak Verma from NCERT delivered the Inaugural Address and Dr. Anupam Ahuja enthralled the audience with her keynote speech. Every other speaker made the seminar really memorable. Dr. Aswini Aggarwal, Joint Secretary of NAB, Dr. Rita Malhotra from Amar Jyoti, Dr. Swati Sanyal from Blind Relief Association, Dr. Usha Sharma from SCERT as well as Ms. Rashmi Paliwal from Balloons made the occasion very special. In this monograph we have attempted to bring together the issues and the perspectives presented and discussed by ours speakers. It was possible only because of the assistance and cooperation I have received from my colleagues and students. They are not only helped in organizing the seminar but also in crafting the content of this publication to its true spirit very faithfully.

I acknowledge the contribution of Ms. Dipi Pathak for administrative coordination during both the seminars. I also acknowledge technical support rendered by Mr. D.S. Chandi and Mr. I.S. Rawat for the same. I express my sincere gratitude to Mrs. Pratibha Goel, Ms. Yukti Gosain and Dr. Jyoti Sharma for doing transcription job of most of the documents and to my dear colleague Dr. Vandana Saxena for supervising the whole process of publication.

I want to express my special thanks to Prof. Bharati Baveja, Head and Dean, Department of Education, University of Delhi, for supporting us in organizing the seminar. She was a guiding force for all of us throughout the project.

I sincerely hope that this publication will be of immense help to those who are working in the area of inclusion.

Prof. Krishna Maitra Department of Education University of Delhi Delhi-7