“Inclusion: Making it Happen

Chandigarh March 14, 2019

            On the fourth day of the workshop on “Inclusion: Making it Happen”, Padma shri Prof. Krishna Kumar, former Director of NCERT and Honorary Professor Department of Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh, delivered a talk on ‘Understanding Inclusion’, which was chaired by Prof. Nandita Shukla Singh, Dean International Students, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

            He said that “Inclusion” is a new word but the concept is an old one. Our constitution is an example where, without the mention of the word “inclusion” the idea of inclusion finds expression, for example ‘Equality and Justice’. Also, child-centred pedagogy is inclusive in nature. But despite this, our system has exclusionary character- A system which has a tendency to drop many children on the way. He explained such exclusion with help of ‘social Darwinism’. He stressed that in order to effectively implement inclusion we must break down the nexus of exclusionary categories- be it gender, caste, class, religion, language or any other. He further mentioned that our system follows social Darwinism.

            Prof. J.S. Saini, former Head, National Institute  of Technical  Teachers Training & Research conducted a session on assistive technology for persons with hearing and visual impairment. He shared his livid experiences and challenges he faced for his younger son who was born deaf. His narration sent out the message that one has to fight out the system to do the needful for the PWDs.

            Prof. Priti Arun, Joint Director, Govt. Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities, Sector 31, Chandigarh chaired the session.

            Dr. Wasim Ahmed, Assistant Professor from Govt. Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities, Chandigarh and Dr. Monica Chhabra, senior physiotherapist from PGIMER, Chandigarh made their presentations on Assistive technology for persons with ID and on loco- motor impair respectively.

            Ms. Ruchika Sachdev, Principal, Primary wing, Mount Litera School International, Mumbai discussed the structure of lesson plan. Prof. Vandana Mehra, Department of Education, Panjab University, Chandigarh chaired the session.