Concept of Inclusive Education

About this chapter

This unit introduces inclusive education as the guiding principle of the Indian school system. It defines inclusion as an approach to educate all children who are at risk for neglect in the education system, through access to common educational provisions in a regular classroom. The unit traces how the field moved from mainstreaming to integration to inclusion, and lays out the sharp difference between integrated and inclusive education — in integration the child has to fit the system, in inclusion the system makes modifications to fit the child. It lists five factors that affect inclusion (learner diversity, teacher preparedness, infrastructure, availability of resources, evaluation system), four teacher actions for an inclusive classroom (varied learning materials, modified physical environment, simple management techniques, child-friendly evaluation through Modification, Substitution, Omission, Compensation), and the at-risk groups (children with disabilities, deprived environments, girl child, gifted and creative, underachievers, minorities, geographic constraints). CTET Paper I tests this unit through definition recall, integration-vs-inclusion contrasts, RTE 2009 linkage and short scenario items. The four tests cover concept recall, classroom application, PYQ-style statement items, and a full-unit mastery mix.