Every child has the right to develop, study, attend school and be accepted and included by their peers, teachers, and communities. Children are denied education and excluded from schools around the world, according to research, due to disability, colour, language, religion, gender, and poverty.

Inclusive education is a teaching approach in which children from various backgrounds, including those with special needs or disabilities (CWD), enter the same schools as individuals from specific social strata or who are considered “normal.” To satisfy the basic needs of the students, this educational methodology emphasizes adjustments in system-level practices and regulations. Despite the fact that India has a range of education laws and policies, data and on-the-ground experiences reveal that an ecosystem of inclusive education has yet to be realised.

That is why we must understand the need of inclusive education and act promptly to build a healthier society for the upcoming generations.

Need of Inclusive Education

Let us discuss some key aspects of the need of inclusive education in India.

Attain Gender Equality

Inclusive education is the solid footing to form gender equality. We have seen that our society is divided into many classes, castes, creeds and religions. However, the inequality of gender is the gravest of them all. Gender equality has to become normal. We must not think about empowering women but better start believing that they are already empowered. When you think of ‘empowering’ someone else, you are putting yourself in a superior position (unwittingly perhaps). An inclusive education system can teach your children from an early age that women are as empowered as men. Therefore, think of emancipating them instead of empowering them.

Eradicate Caste Barriers

People often talk about how the caste system is becoming a burden to developing countries. But first let us admit that if we are struggling with caste inclusivity, first world countries are fighting to get rid of racism. Nonetheless, we must focus on the business at hand and that is building a caste inclusive society, a society with equal opportunity for all. This is way more challenging than it sounds. Particularly, the Indian education system is at a very nascent stage. But the time has come when we must think beyond providing mid-day meals to underprivileged children. We must face the music now and fight to create a nation that is not divided by caste, creed and religion.

This sense of inclusivity grows from childhood and that is where the need of inclusive education in India is so significant.

Confluence of Diversity

Inclusivity is actually a confluence of diversity. India is truly a diverse country with so many languages, so many cultures, so many religions and above all so many people residing together. But residing together is not all. We must know how to reside inclusively; not in fear and fragments but in peace and harmony. Before we are Indian, we are human beings who must trust each other, love each other and help each other. No institutional education can teach you that until inclusive education is introduced and that too from a grass-root level.

To end our discussion, let us be very frank to tell you that inclusive education should not be limited to the rich and wealthy group of the society. People like you and me who are clear with the idea of inclusive education are privileged enough to contemplate such serious issues. But to those who struggle for daily existence, who struggle for survival, inclusive education is still a utopia. Therefore, inclusive education must go hand in hand with the socio-economic development of the lower strata of the society. Only then the need of inclusive education will be fulfilled.