Inclusive Education Resource Teachers in India: Itinerant and Invisible

• In Event: Strengthening Inclusion in Pedagogy

Proposal

The idea of inclusion gained credence in the 1990s with the promulgation of international policy frameworks on inclusive education (Kalyanpur, 2014; Booth & Ainscow, 2011). Of particular significance are the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action (UNESCO, 1994), Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (UN, 2006), and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 (UN, 2015) that have provided the impetus for countries to formulate national policies raising awareness and driving education systems towards implementation of inclusive education from the perspective of human rights and equitable opportunities (UNESCO, 2017).
As rightly emphasised by Grech (2015, pp. 11), the global South is a ‘complex and hybrid space’ and needs to be explored ‘in its own right’. Literature within the context of the Global South shows inclusive education to be synonymous with disability (Singal, 2006; Kamenopoulou & Dukpa, 2017; Kamenopoulou, 2018).). It is also seen that the model of inclusive education within these contexts is driven by special teachers who are synonymous with inclusive education in practice (Ramchand, 2021). Within this model, students with disability are believed to be the responsibility of the special teacher even though the student is enrolled in an inclusive school. Sometimes, one sees that integration is followed in the name of inclusion (Sawhney, 2015). Studies also highlight gaps in teacher preparation for inclusive education (Ramchand, 2021; UNESCO, 2019).
In India, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPwD), 2016 are legislations meant to ensure quality education for all children. Within the model of inclusive education followed in India, emphasis is on the provisioning of Inclusive Education Resource Teachers (IERTs) for the education of children with disabilities. Under its flagship Samgra Shiksha scheme, an overarching programme on school education of the Indian government, 27,774 IERTs are appointed across the country to cater to nearly 2 million children with disabilities in grades 1 to 12 (Ministry of Education GoI, 2020). IERTs are special educators within the government system who play a supportive role in inclusion, especially in the rural and peri-urban areas. An itinerant model is adopted wherein three IERTs are appointed at the block (sub-district) level and they have to cater to anywhere between 20 to 200 schools in the block to provide support to children with disabilities. Their role is to primarily support diagnosis, undertake functional assessment, and teach children with disabilities in special schools, home-based or inclusive settings. They are also expected to help regular teachers by suggesting modifications to curriculum and adaptations to pedagogy (UNESCO, 2019).
While policies and schemes are in place, there is as yet little understanding of how to adapt inclusive practices in schools and a dearth of good-quality research on inclusive education in the country (Finkelstein, Sharma & Furlonger, 2021; Ramchand, 2021; Singal, 2019; UNESCO, 2019). Addressing this gap, the present paper presents findings from an exploratory study on Inclusive Education Resource Teachers (IERTs) in one southern state of India. This study aims to understand the perceptions of IERTs of their roles, their competence to fulfil these roles, and the opportunities and challenges they face in their work.
Sample was identified though purposive sampling. Data related to the IERTs’ education, perceptions and experience were collected by asking them to fill out an online questionnaire. Focused group discussions and interviews were held with 11 IERTs of 3 five blocks in the state of Karnataka in 2021-22. All the FGDs and interviews were recorded with permission from the participants. Data for this paper was analysed using an inductive approach analysis as presented by Robson (2002).
The findings of the study show the IERTs primarily see their role as identifying the special needs of children, counselling and educating parents on the entitlements of their children and supporting them with the required paperwork needed to apply for the state schemes and programmes, and meeting children with disabilities periodically (periodicity varies between once a week to once in two months depending on the number of schools an IERT has to cater to) to monitor progress and provide with interventions. It was found that the IERTs understanding is informed primarily by the medical model, which they have been exposed to during their professional development. They all have a diploma or degree in special education but have no in-service program to support their continuous professional development. Their challenges range from catering to a large number of children and delay in payment of their salaries (which is outsourced to a private agency) to travelling long distances without adequate public transport facilities (they are not paid any travel allowance). Home-based education for children with moderate to severe disabilities take away most of their time.
The paper discusses the IERTs’ strong disposition to ensure the inclusion of children with disabilities in neighbourhood schools, and engagement in developing school readiness programs. Under the current Samgra Shiksha scheme, it is proposed to sensitize and build capacities of IERTs and strengthen the district, block and cluster-level structures. It also suggests supplementing them with special schools as resource centres for inclusion. The paper concludes with a deliberation on the availability of local support structures that are adequately resourced and their potential realized and argues for the system to recognise the critical role played by IERTs and the work they do as local-level functionaries and value their experience and knowledge as partners in reform efforts towards inclusive education within the Indian context.

Authors

• Mythili Ramchand, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

• Sonia Sawhney, Tata Institute of Social Sciences