BBSSES Volume 7 Issue 10 [Year - 2016] ISSN 2321 – 9726(online)

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: OBSTACLES & SUGGESTION IN INDIAN CONTEXT

Dr.Sundeep Kumar* Kavita Rani** Gajendra Pal Singh***

Asstt. Professor(M.Ed, Ph.D)Shaymlal Saraswati Mahavidhlaya Shikarpur (Bulandshahr)*
Asstt. Professor(M.Ed, NET)Shaymlal Saraswati Mahavidhlaya Shikarpur (Bulandshahr)**
Asstt. Professor(M.Ed, M.Phil Edu, NET) Shaymlal Saraswati Mahavidhlaya Shikarpur (Bulandshahr)***

ABSTRACT
Social responsibility includes developing all individuals on an equal status. And to develop the
entire basic requirement is to educate all together. This brings the concept of Inclusive
Education in view. In this article the writer has tried to put some light on the obstacles in path of
achieving success in applying concept of Inclusive Education, and some suggestions also has
been given to overcome those obstacles.

The concept of inclusion has developed from a long history of educational innovation.
Man is called as “Social animal”, which means a Biological Creature which lives in network of
relation called “Society”. The purpose of Society is to create an Environment that is, caring and
supporting every part of it. To achieve this purpose, many attempts towards developing and
ensuring equality and justice for all, have been made to confirm to the Norms and Systems of the
society. Some general and fundamental rights with responsibilities for every individual of the
society have been formulated. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949), the United
Nation’s General Assemble Charter acknowledged education as a human right.
To ensure the fulfillment of this fundamental right every individual is being provided
with all resources and facility in this regards. Every effort is being tried to ensure participation of
every one in education system. Through Inclusive Education, one can respond to the diversity of
needs of all learners and thereby reducing exclusion to and within education system. Hence,
Inclusive Education is a mean to achieve fundamental right to Education for all. It refers to an
education system that accommodates all children regardless to their Physical, Intellectual, Social,
Emotional, Linguistic or other condition which effect on children education makes challenge to
school system. In India inclusive education is in beginning stage especially for schools.
Before we talk about what is Inclusive Education and what are the challenges in its path,
we should discuss “what is Inclusive Education?”
Inclusive education means including children with disabilities in regular classroom that
have been designed for children without disabilities .One of the important parameter for quality
education is, to welcome the diversity and to provide flexibility in learning. Also, we have learnt
that the quality of learning can be enhanced by the diversity of student involvement. An
Inclusive approach to education also strives to promote quality in the classroom by putting

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flexibility in terms of offering every individual a relevant education thorough a range of methods
and individualized learners. The concept of Inclusion is based on human rights, equal
opportunities, social justice and participation; Inclusive Education is very complex and
multifaceted recognizing that there isn’t just one inclusion but rather inclusion according to
Government rhetoric. Inclusion as seen by children within schools, inclusion according to
disabled activists, inclusion according to the lay person and Inclusion contested by various
academics. Inclusive Education appreciates every learner’s fundamental right to learn and
acknowledges that each child has unique abilities and needs. Seemingly, if given the right
opportunities, all children can develop their potential. Inclusive Education considers differences
in the learning and physical abilities of children as opportunities for making education system
and schools more responsive and dynamic.
The principle of Inclusive Education was adopted at the Salamanca World conference on Special
Needs Education held in Spain in 1994, and was reaffirmed at the World Education Forum; the
challenge of getting all children into school has been put on the political agenda in many
countries and is reflected in the Right to Education Bill in India also. It involves changes and
modifications in Content, Approaches, Structures and Strategies, with a common vision which
covers all children of the appropriate age range and a conviction that it is the responsibility of the
regular system to educate all Children (UNESCO, 1994).
In India, recommendations to send children with disabilities to mainstream schools were
first made in the Sargent Report in 1944, and again in 1964 by the Kothari Commission. The
1995 Persons with Disability Act (PDA) states that disabled children should be educated in
integrated settings where possible, although it seems that there is lack of implementation in this
regard. Despite the promotion of Inclusive Education, Govt. documents focus on Inclusive
Education as being about including children with disabilities in the education system, but not
specifically the mainstream (Singal, 2005).
In the broadest sense it is an approach which enables both teachers and learners to feel
comfortable with diversity and to see it as a challenges and enrichment in the learning
environment, rather than a problem. It also relieves individuals from the clutches of
marginalization and exclusion. In general words or from the point of view of layman, “All
Children study in same system, same content, with equal importance.” all students are respected
as individuals. Their strengths, abilities and diverse learning needs are recognized as their
foundation for learning and their learning challenges are identified, understood and
accommodated.In spite of being a good concept for the society, the concept of Inclusive
Education has some obstacles too which prevent it to achieve inclusion.
Challenges and issues in regard of Inclusive Education
Challenges in path of applying concept of Inclusive Education can be categorized in three types;
a. Physical
b. Psychological
c. Administrative.
Physical challenges are consists of physical obstacles i.e., insufficient resources, lack of
adequate infrastructure, lack of trained Teaching staff, lack of appropriate study material, lack of
institution access and physical ability .Psychological challenges includes factors which are
related to thought-style and thought-process of different part of the education system i.e., lack of

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motivation, mindset of Teaching staff, lack of parental involvement, social environment, lacking
towards feeling of equal status for every child, etc.The administrative challenges are related to
various authorities and governing bodies, i.e. Government, school administration, local
authorities, NGOs. These challenges are, conception of policy makers, putting over burden on
teachers, insufficient funds and reserves, old evaluation methods, imperfect system of monitoring
.
1. Lack of Awareness and Positive Attitude of the society and Social Environment-
In a school, the teacher lives under influence of society and its’ various parts. A school
having Inclusive Education has to face a criticism by society and has to bear the blame of
neglecting their children while paying attention to disabled or different children. Some emphasis
on ideology at the expense of empirical evidence and challenges to the view that the mainstream
can incorporate students with disabilities when it has so many difficulties in accommodating
existing student diversity.
Parents and the community should be motivated by the authority and school to appreciate the
concept of Inclusive Education and have a positive attitude towards disabled children. Parents
and other parts must be satisfied with functioning of teacher in schools, despite other barriers.
Training, awareness programmes, seminars, regulatory and disciplinary action should be
imposed and taken. The social environment should be equal, democratic and individually child-
friendly to promote concept of Inclusive Education.
2. Lack of Trained Personnel required for applying Inclusion in the field of Education –
Regular teacher are not adequately trained to provide diversified instructional methods or to
cope with the needs of diverse learners. For a non-segregated or Inclusive Education for
heterogeneous classes, skills, attitudes and knowledge required for the successful learning of all
students should be fostered in all personnel who work with students through ongoing
professional development and adherence to professional standards.There is also a need to shift in
perspectives and values so that diversity is appreciated and teachers are given skill to provide all
children, including those with different learning needs, a quality Education. Teacher should
promote respect, understanding and acceptance of differences.
3. Lack of Resources and Funds to facilitate Inclusive Education-
In developing countries, the major constraint of the move toward inclusive approaches in
education is attributed mainly to serious shortage of resources such a lack of school or
inadequate facilities, lack of teacher and/or shortage of qualified teaching staff, lack of learning
materials and absence of support. (UNESCO, 2003).
Lack of resources is to be blamed for non-implementation i.e. human resources, technical
assistive devices, facility resources. Funding has always come up in Education for all,
assessment reports as a constraint for Inclusive Education. The inadequacy of resources to meet
basic needs in education is always a pervasive theme. There are some indications from countries
where a parallel system of education (mainstream-special) is in place that providing services to
children who are perceived as having special needs is about 2 to 4 times higher than the cost of
education who do not need these services (UNESCO,2003). The higher costs apply to education
in separate settings such as in Special Schools, where as the lower costs are usually applicable in
more inclusive settings.We must ensure the required standards of classroom arrangements such
as seating and lighting, boards, railing in toilets and commodes suitable for children with

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disabilities. And provisions should be kept to fund such needs of different children to learn in
mainstream.
4. Enrollment of Different Children in school and Accessibility-
The distance from home to school for children is generally manageable; but in Indian setting,
we find a different picture, there is a scarcity of schools, a child has to travel around 4-5 km to
reach the school. In such condition how a person with physical disability supposed to reach
school and be a part of Inclusive Education? They need public transportation, Parents and
friends, assists such children to commute to and from school. When the school is situated at a
long distance, neither the parents of such children nor the children are willing to get enrolled.
Further, in government schools, the design of building does not provide easy access for
children with disabilities, and basic amenities such as drinking water, toilets etc are not available
for children with disabilities. Barriers include mentality of Schools that are “open” for a specific
Ethnic or Religious group. Other factors related to access include poor quality of the teaching,
weak school management or curriculum that is irrelevant to such peoples’ needs.
5. Inappropriate Teacher-Student Ratio-
Since the population in Urban and rural areas has increased very fast. Even though, having
policy of neighborhood schools, there is a very poor ratio between number of teacher and
students. A section includes around 60-70 students, which makes It really a tough job for a
teacher to manage and pay special attention to different children.There should be more well-
trained teacher should be appointed to apply the Inclusive Education successfully.
6. Teaching Staff’s Exclusionary Attitude towards Inclusion-
We are living in a Globalized and so called “Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam” world, but still have a
feeling of superiority over Disabled and Under-privileged peoples. Same is with our teachers,
this feeling of superiority generates a Negative and Exclusionary attitudes in the class.
Sometimes their inefficiency, lack of Training in Inclusive Education, sometimes the negative
attitude stops them from making efforts towards achieving Inclusive Education.In Private
schools, children with special needs, participates in all activities in the classroom. The functional
limitations of children are accepted both by the teacher and the peer group. But in government
schools, teachers are reluctant to enroll children with disabilities even though it is government
policy. Teachers and peers should be aware by the authorities and organization to make them
more sensitive to the needs of children with disabilities, and accept their functional limitations.
7. Over-Burdened Teachers-
An In service teacher is not just to do “Teaching” only, but he is burdened with tons of tasks,
i.e. Pulse-Polio duty, Census, Election Duty, Examination Duties, clerical jobs and so many
more. If we calculate, in a normal Government school, each section is having more than 50
students. A teacher gets only half a Minute for individual students. Is that really possible to teach
a class applying concept of Inclusive Education? Now, one can think how such an over-burdened
teacher can implement Ideas and Procedure for Inclusive Education in a class consisting large
number of students?The existing handful of teacher trainers can’t reach the vast number of
teachers working with children with disabilities in Rural/Remote areas. There is a need to
explore alternatives such as training para-teachers, investing in direct studies to develop various
training programmes in this field, and exploring strategies for distance education.

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8. Policies, planning regarding Inclusive Education-

A teacher is bound to serve, according to policies and regulations imposed to the education
institutes, but we are having no special regulation or policy in this regard. If there is any then
there is no regulating agency of organization which assure the implementation.The structure is
further strengthened by special incentives for teacher working in this “specialized” area, such a
better salaries, lower retirement age, smaller classes and so on which impedes efforts in changing
the way the system works.
9. Less emphasize on Policy makers and officials’ Improvement-
Orientation training of Policy-Makers and education department officials, both at the state
and block level, is essential. In addition, there is a need to develop on-site support systems for
teacher. Grassroots workers, parents, special school teachers, Para-teachers and other individual
can be shown how to provide the required support.Inclusive Education is a basic human right,
and while designing educational programmes for students with disabilities, the focus must shift
from the individual’s impairments to the social context, a key feature of which should be a
unitary education system dedicated to providing quality education for all students.
10. Lack of respect for Individual Differences-
An important prerequisite for Inclusive Education is to have respect for differences, respect
for different learning styles, variations in methods, open and flexible curriculum and welcoming
each and every child. In other words, inclusive school should be learner-centered and child-
friendly. A common learning environment should be provided to every child, which includes
curriculum and instruction, and should be structured and adapted such that all students learn to
their best potential as par their individual differences.
11. Insufficient and inappropriate Curriculum and Learning Material-
Though, living in a world with diversity of many kinds, there is no clear discrimination
between the characteristics of students with and without disabilities, and there is no support for
the conflict that specific categories of students learn in different ways, separate provisions for
such students cannot be justified. In today’s scenario, curriculum does not have any specific
provisions or arrangement to fulfill the need of such excluded children. The design and
development of learning and teaching materials often do not take into account the special needs,
aspirations and uniqueness of the learners. Language could also be a challenge to the learners.
“In many countries the language of instruction is different than the language the students talk at
home and use in their community thus creating difficulties in understanding for many
students”.Schools should have a curriculum that is flexible and responsive to the specific
learning needs of each child. Further schools should also prepare inclusive teaching materials
and with aides and learning materials should be provided to children.
12. Lack of Appropriate and Adequate Infrastructure-
To implement the concept of Inclusive Education, it is necessary that, we renovate our
education institutes. The infrastructure falls far short of requirements. There are many
architectural barriers in building, and no amenities for children with disabilities, seating and
lighting arrangements for children with disability are not optimal.It is the need of the hour that,
improvements should be made in the probes, like in the villages; the Gram-Panchayat should
contribute towards the infrastructure of schools. Policy-Makers and officials should agree that
Inclusive Education is required in terms of cost effectiveness, reach and impact, larger capacity
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building of officials, teachers, rehabilitation workers, and Medical personnel has to be

undertaken on a massive scale. Government departments and NGOs have to work in cooperation
with each other, and Inclusive Education practices have to be implemented in all schools.
13. Orthodox Teaching-Learning Process-
If we want to achieve the aims of Inclusive Education, new and improved process, it requires
change in Mind-Set, the Style of Teaching and Learning. We have to create a paradigm shift in
education system, i.e. change the teacher centric method into individual child centric methods.
Teacher speaks – Student follows, this mentality has to be changed. Now a teacher must learn to
understand and make effort to provide special guidance to individual child.
14. Orthodox Methods of Assessment and Evaluation of Learner outcomes-
According to Teaching-Learning process, it is necessary to evaluate the change in behaviour,
the outcome, the learning, and in a school where Inclusive Education is being practiced, it is seen
that teachers are using same old techniques for all student, Written examinations (essay and
theoretical type questions), in such kind of evaluation method, there is no scope of specifically
prepared individual tests or evaluation method. This factor stops the path of applying Inclusive
Education. Due to this, Government school students with disabilities are lagging behind and
unless they received extra support, these children would be unable to cope with general class
learning. So it is necessary to provide such students a support, some resources to children with
special needs.

15. Low levels of Parent Involvement-

Parent involvement in form of appreciation, encouragement and indulgence, helps a lot in
learning of every child. But, sometimes parents get frustrated while taking care of different
children and wards. And schools are less interested in taking participation of parents in providing
Inclusive Education. There is a requirement of taking initiatives by the school to promote the
participation of parents inform of suggestion, new ideas, Active-participation. Parents should
attend parent-Teacher Meetings regularly. There should partnerships with parents and
community groups which will be capitalized for achieving objectives of Inclusive Education.
16. The Preparation of Children with Disability-
In the form of early childhood intervention before enrolment- is required. This would ensure
that they do not dropout, are retained in schools, and compete equally with other children. For
this purpose counseling of parents and child should be done.
17. Networking of various Organizations (Govt. and Non-Govt.)-
In order to strengthen inclusive practices, networking between existing practitioners, NGOs,
Government organization, local special schools would be useful. Simultaneous implementation
and consistent monitoring, reinforcement and coordination between various Govt. departments
and NGOs at National and State levels will promote inclusive practices. By this networking
refined, efficient and effective policies and their implementation can be applied.
Lack of Initiative towards programmes to promote Equal Opportunities-
Many countries have developed programmes, which promotes equality of opportunity by
allocating specific funds to areas of social and economic need. If inclusion is to be successful,
the following parameters need to be taken care of-

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 Encouragements provided by the community of including children with disabilities in

local schools.
 Readiness of the general education system to accept responsibility for education of
children with disabilities.
 Willingness of parents of children with disabilities to send their wards to local schools.
 General classroom teachers to be equipped to manage the education of children with
disabilities.
 Enrolment rate of children with disabilities at least on par with that of non-disabled
children.
 Retention of children with disabilities in schools.
 Availability of support from peer group to children with disabilities and vice-versa in
teaching-learning process.
 Comparable achievement of children with disabilities in curricular and co-curricular
activities at par with their capabilities.
 Availability of specialist teacher support, if possible to the regular classroom teachers.

Thus, we as teachers, parents, teacher-educators etc. have to facilitate the implementation of

Inclusive Education not only as a programme but also as an ideology-an ideology based on the
principles of human rights approach wherein stress is laid on giving importance to the individual
and respecting his/her potentiality in the teaching-learning process.
Conclusion
It is important to remember that Inclusive Education is at a very early stage of
conceptualization and implementation in India. The fact that it is being discussed, debated and in
some places implemented although falteringly, demonstrates a willingness to engage with
elements with elements of a new concept that has the potential to be developed in the future in a
positive manner.
Without education, all different children may not be able to fulfill their rights as a Citizen
in the largest democracy of the world. Inclusive Education thus needs to be implemented with
full rigour in order to fulfill the mandate of Education for all as guaranteed by the Fundamental
Right to Education declared by the Constitution and enacted as a law (2009).Now as we are
familiar with the causes, challenges, and probable ways to overcome these hurdles, time is to
motivate people in the field of education, make some of the effective changes in system, make
some new decisions and policies, implement them effectively, create relation among the social,
political, economic, cultural and historical contexts that are present at any one time in a
particular country and/or local authority, and an intention of taking everyone together. Inclusive
Education should go far beyond the physical placement of children with disabilities in general
classrooms, but requires nothing less than transforming regular education by promoting
school/classroom cultures, structures and practices that accommodate to diversity We know there
is no magic wand, which can remove these hurdles immediately, but if efforts are made then one
day we will be close to aim and objective of Inclusive Education.
References

1. Shanker,A. (1995), Full inclusion is neither free nor appropriate. Educational Leadership, 52, 18-21.

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2. Sheehy, K., Rix, j., Nind, M., & Simmons, K. (2004). Perceptive on Inclusive Education: learning
from each other. Support for Learning, 19,3,137-141.
3. UNESCO (1994). The Salamanca World Conference on Special Needs Education: Access and
Quality. UNESCO and the Ministry of Education, Spain. Paris: UNESCO.
4. Vaughn, S., Elbaum, B.E., & Schumm, J. S. (1996). The effects of inclusion on the social functioning
of students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 29, 598-608.
5. Verm, J. (2002). An Evaluation of IEDC in DPEP and Non-DPEP Districts. Nationa council of
Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi.
6. http://www.gnb.ca/0000/publications/Definition%20of%20inclusion.pdf
7. http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/special_education/education -that-
fits/chapter-eleven-inclusive-education
8. Constitution of India (1949) Constitution of India, Article 41, New Delhi: Ministry of Law and
Justice,
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9. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) (2006), Inclusive Education- Draft Action Plan
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10. www.eduatio.nic.in/htmlweb/inclusiveeducationactlonplan.htm

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