From Special To Inclusive Education In India: Case Studies Of Three Schools In Delhi

Book excerpt: From Special to Inclusive Education in India: Case Studies of Three Schools in Delhi focuses on the growing international interest in inclusive education and on how to offer equal education to all children regardless of their needs, or their social, cultural and economic backgrounds. With the number of private schools that admit children identified with special needs, particularly of the non-physical and non-sensory categories, as a part of "integrated" or "inclusive" education, increasing in India, the challenges of inclusive education in India are also many. The concerns that require attention involve the inclusion of children with disabilities and special needs, those from socially and economically disadvantaged groups and from diverse cultural and linguistic groups, and those alienated in classrooms that offer non-relevant curricula and teacher-centred methods. This book discusses these issues and challenges against the background of the existing educational system. Using a case study approach, the author has examined three different schools in Delhi where "special" needs children have been admitted, and has analysed the findings against the background of the Indian education policy and its provisions for special education.