Teachers across Kashmir unanimously believe that adaptation of New Education Policy (NEP 2020) will usher a new dawn in education system of our country.
NEP 2020, which modified National Policy on Education 1992, is latest blueprint for revamping and revising all aspects of the education.It envisages a number of innovations, one being Inclusive Education Programme based on core principles of equality and equity for all.
Imtiyaz Ahmad Shah, a teacher and resource person for NEP 2020 informed Rising Kashmir that there is special focus on disadvantage groups in Inclusive Education.
He said that Inclusive Education under NEP 2020 recognises ‘20 plus 1’ categories of specially abled students grouped as Children with Special Need (CWSN) against 7 categories by previous policy.
“20 disabilities are self revealing and 1 disability usually that of visual defect is declared by a medical doctor after examination of a child,” he said, adding that NEP 2020 advises teaching CWSN with normal students of a particular age group in a single class room in mainstream schools.
He said that Inclusive Education demands creating facilities for CWSN in normal schools and training general teachers how to address to their needs. “It advises for recruiting special teachers for CWSN,” he said, adding that schools are to be made accessible to these children in accordance with theRights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016.
Though, the NEP 2020 is in its infancy and may take some time to take shape. However, concerned officials informed Rising Kashmir that they are moving in the direction of realising inclusive education.
“Researchers found that CWSN become demotivated when put in separate schools with the result they are unable to cope up with different issues in the society. it is a sort of discrimination with them because when these students are given opportunity to learn with other students they will learn to live with them,” Masood Ali Mir, Senior Accademic Officer, State Council of Educational Research and Training ( SCERT) Kashmir, said, adding that Inclusive Education demands integration of these children with normal students.
“It is quite possible that they may not be able to understand some concepts like normal students and may face certain issues. There is a scope for individual plan and individual resource room for such cases to address those issues,” he said, adding that they have every right to be part and parcel of every educational activity.
He informed that Department of School Education under SMAGRA Shiksha is carrying an assessment to locate exact number of CWSN in Kashmir.
He added that a number of camps are being organised to assess needs of these children for different aids and appliances so that they are projected and made available to them.
Samagra is an amalgamation of three erstwhile schemes, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
“A number of facilities are already in place to address to the needs of CWSN, we have at-least one resource centre in each district of Kashmir where resource persons have been appointed for different therapies, behaviour modifications and guiding and counselling of these children,” he said, adding that State Leadership Academy at SCERT Kashmir organised a workshop two weeks ago on how to accommodate the students from various disadvantage groups to make them part and parcel of the education system.
He said that they carried out a survey to analyse facilities for CWSN in different schools across Kashmir.
“SCERT has a plan to counsel parents of CWSN and motivate them to send their wards to mainstream schools and we want to accomplish this task in next couple of years,” he said.
