Kolkata, Sept. 1 -- Children with disabilities and their parents are being directly involved in discussions to prepare West Bengal's roadmap for inclusive education, with the School Education Department and UNICEF seeking to improve their integration into mainstream school education.

A three-day workshop began on Tuesday, bringing together children with disabilities and their parents, teachers, special educators, education officials, policymakers, NCERT and SCERT representatives and organisations working in the field. The children and parents will exchange views with policymakers and those involved in implementing education policies.

"The participation of children is being ensured here in a significant way. At the planning stage, child participation is hardly seen," said Koushik Chowdhury, minister of state for School Education.

The roadmap will focus on mainstreaming children with disabilities, including those facing difficulties with mobility, vision, hearing and speech. The department has identified disability as one of the factors contributing to children falling out of mainstream education and dropping out.

The objective, Chowdhury said, was not to create separate special schools but to develop arrangements in government schools where children with disabilities could study alongside other children.

He said mainstreaming would require more than improved infrastructure and called for changes in the attitudes and practices of teachers, special educators and parents.

"Suppose a special child comes to a school; a teacher should not feel that the child is an additional burden for me," Chowdhury said.

He said the initiative should be viewed not as a government project with a fixed end point but as a long-term change in practice involving everyone connected with school education.

Infrastructure will also be examined. Chowdhury said ramps were available in almost all schools but that many schools had poor infrastructure, including buildings and ramps in poor condition.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.