A Powerful Role of Inclusive Pedagogy to Address Learning Diversity in Early Grades in Nepal

• In Event: Teacher Professional Development for Disability Inclusive Education

Proposal

Nepal is a country of diversity in terms of ideological, cultural, religious, caste, geographical and sexual orientation, ethnicity, class, and language. Diversity is not merely a problem, it is an opportunity for exploring the creativity of individuals who have cultural, racial, physical, and ethnic differences. In this context, this abstract aims to share the power of inclusive pedagogy to address diverse individual learning needs in Nepal. I have selected the pedagogical practices being used in the early-grade classrooms to address diversity in the Nepalese context. Key respondents of this study are the Headteacher, the teacher, the parents, the students with disabilities, and children from the marginalized community.
School is an extremely important place for all learners to feel safe and comfortable. In order to learn, students need an environment that makes them feel welcome. If a student feels unsafe and insecure, they will not be able to focus on learning.
Students with diverse learning needs may feel that they stand out alone in the classroom, they may feel underrepresented in the teaching-learning process, etc. Children with diverse learning needs may then feel unsafe and uncomfortable in a classroom when they don’t feel that their diversity is seen or valued. Disability, Language, cultural, and gender differences are important factors in a person's identity, and it's extremely valuable for teaching to help students understand differences better.
Efforts that support to develop an inclusive pedagogical approach to address the diverse learning need in the classroom is extremely important. Parents, teachers, and the school family and community together can make efforts to make Government and school accountable to develop and implement inclusive pedagogy. Applying inclusive pedagogy provides a variety of learning ways to all learners.
Understanding the power of inclusive pedagogy and prioritizing in the planning and budget allocation by the Government is a highly suggested issue. Providing equal opportunity to practice and learn for all learners has to be always included and implemented in every education project and program.From pre-primary students to high school students, it is always a good time for teaching to focus on unique differences among the learners in the past, present, and future.
In this presentation, I shall share the findings of two projects on disability-inclusive education implemented in Nepal. Different pedagogical models that were applied by two projects, the role of the Organization of People with Disabilities (OPDs) to protest to apply inclusive pedagogy in the school, and findings /results of two different two pedagogical models will be shared in the presentation.

Author

• Seema Acharya, World Education Inc.