Barriers to inclusive education:

Introduction

UNICEF’s Report on the Status of Disability in India 2000 states that there are around 30 million
children in India suffering from some form of disability. The Sixth All-India Educational Survey
(NCERT, 1998) reports that out of India’s 200 million school-aged children (6–14 years), 20
million require special needs education. While the national average for gross enrolment in school
is over 90 per cent, less than five per cent of children with disabilities are in schools. According
to the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010: reaching the marginalized, children with disabilities
remain one of the main groups being widely excluded from quality education. Disability is
recognized as one of the least visible yet most potent factors in educational marginalization. The
United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which was
entered into force in 2008, was ratified by India in October, 2008.

According to Barton (1997), “Inclusive education is not merely about providing access into
mainstream school for pupils who have previously been excluded. It is not about closing down an
unacceptable system of segregated provision and dumping those pupils in an unchanged
mainstream system. Existing school systems in terms of physical factors, curriculum aspects,
teaching expectations and styles, leadership roles will have to change. This is because inclusive
education is about the participation of ALL children and young people and the removal of all forms
of exclusionary practice”. Achieving this goal in India requires serious planning and efforts.

• Definition: • “Inclusive education is concerned with removing all barriers to learning and with
the participation of all learners vulnerable to exclusion and marginalization. It is a strategic
approach designed to facilitate learning success for all children. It addresses the common goals of
decreasing and overcoming all exclusion from the human right to education, at least at the
elementary level, and enhancing access, participation and learning success in quality basic
education for all.” • (Education for All 2000 Bulletin, UNESCO. NO.32.1998)

• Meaning of Inclusive Education: Inclusive Education means (Ghosh, 2003) • Improving

school so that all children learn more successfully and failure rate is reduced; • That schools and
teachers accept that children are individuals and then school must be flexible and find ways to
meet the needs to each child; • Teachers know how to help all children in the class when they have
problems; • That children with disabilities can go to their local schools and learn along side friends;
• That schools and parents work together to help their children to learn; • Ensuring child right to
education a reality. This is an important aspect of the internationally agreed ‘convention on the
Rights of the Child.’

• What is not inclusion?

• Inclusion does not mean dumping children with special needs into the regular classrooms as is
noticed in most schools of our country under SSA.
• Educating children in special, mostly segregated environments in regular schools is not inclusion.
• Educating children part time in special schools and part time in regular schools is not inclusion.
• Educating children in regular schools, but requiring them to follow substantially different courses

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of study in terms of content and learning environment to their peers is also not inclusion (unless
all children in a class follow individual programmes). •

• Five principles of Inclusive education:

• Heterogeneous Grouping: All students are educated together in groups where the number of
those with and without disabilities approximates the natural proportion. The premise is that
“students develop most when in the physical, social, emotional and intellectual presence of
nonhandicapped persons in reasonable approximations to the natural proportions (Brown, Ford,
Nisbet, Sweet).
• A sense of belonging to a group: All students are considered members of the class rather than
visitors, guests or outsiders. Within these groups students who have disabilities are welcomed as
are students without disabilities.
• Use of environments frequented by Persons without Disabilities: Shared educational experiences
take place in environments predominantly frequented by people without disabilities.
• Shared activities with Individualized outcomes: Students share educational experiences at the
same time. Even though students are involved in the same activities, their learning objectives are
individualized and therefore may be different. Students may have different objectives in the same
curriculum area during a shared activity. This is referred to as multi-level instruction. Within a
shared activity a student also may have individualized objective from a curriculum area other than
on which other students are focused. This practice is referred to as curriculum overlapping. • A
balanced educational experience: Inclusive education seeks an individualized balance between the
academic/functional and social/personal aspects of schooling. For example, teachers in inclusion
oriented schools would be as concerned about students’ self image and social network as they
would be about developing literacy competencies or learning vocational skills.

Advantages both for the students with and without disabilities:

• Children with disabilities demonstrate high level of social interaction with non-disabled peers in
inclusive setting when compared with segregated setting. • Social competence and communication
skills of children with diverse abilities are improved in inclusive settings. • Children with
disabilities in inclusive settings often have a more rigorous educational programme, resulting in
improved skill acquisition and academic gains. • Social acceptance of children with diverse
abilities is enhanced by the frequent small group nature of their instruction in inclusive classrooms.
• Friendships more commonly develops between children with disabilities and those without
disabilities in inclusive settings. Researches have shown that children in inclusive settings have
more durable networks of friends than children in segregated settings. • Inclusion assists in the
development of general knowledge for children with disabilities.
• Children with disabilities who are included in regular schools tend to become adults who spend
more time in leisure activities outside of the home. • The performance of children without
disabilities or giftedness is not compromised by the presence of children with diverse abilities in
their classes. • Children without disabilities or giftedness can benefit from improved instructional
technologies in the classroom. • Children without disabilities or giftedness can benefit from
increased funds in the classroom. This funds can be used in a variety of ways to provide additional
learning experiences that benefit all children. • Children without disabilities involved in peer
tutoring situations can benefit from improved self-esteem and mastery of academic content. •
Children without disabilities have the opportunities to learn additional skills as Braille or sign
language. • They can also learn to value and respect each other in inclusive settings.

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WHAT IS BARRIER
A barrier to learning is anything that stands in the way of a child being able to learn effectively.
A learner may experience one or more barriers to learning throughout his or her education.
A child with a disability will experience that disability
A child with a disability will experience that disability as an intrinsic barrier to learning and will
require varying levels of support to accommodate their disability in order to reach their full
academic potential.
Barriers to learning are not limited to intrinsic barriers. They can also be societal/environmental
barriers. For example extreme poverty, abuse or neglect will all act as barriers to a child’s learning.
Many factors enter into creating inclusive classrooms in which children with disabilities learn
alongside typical peers.
An inclusive education for students with disabilities typically does not just happen. For
students to successfully learn in general education
For students to successfully learn in general education classrooms, adequate funding has to be
in place to hire support specialists and secure resources for teachers and students. Inclusive
attitudes have to be held by school administrators, teachers, staff, and parents.
Learning environments also must be physically accessible to students using wheelchairs,
walkers, and assistive technology devices.

Curriculum needs to be modified and adapted to meet the needs, and limitations, of a diverse group
of children. Finally, open and ongoing communication must exist among all involved in educating
students with disabilities.

Expense : Funding is a major constraint to the practice of inclusion. Teaching students with
disabilities in general education classrooms takes specialists and additional staff to support
students’ needs. and additional staff to support students’ needs. Coordinating services and offering
individual supports to children requires additional money that many school districts do not have,
particularly in a tight economy. Inadequate funding can hinder ongoing professional development
that keeps both specialists and classroom teachers updated on the best practices of inclusion.

Mis-Information : Some of the greatest barriers associated with inclusion in education are
negative attitudes. As with society in general, these attitudes and stereotypes are often caused by
a lack of knowledge and understanding. The attitudes and abilities of general education teachers
and and abilities of general education teachers and paraeducators in particular can be major
limitations in inclusive education. Training teachers and paraeducators to understand and work
with children with disabilities is often inadequate, or it may be fragmented and uncoordinated. If
educators have negative attitudes toward students with special needs or have low expectations of
them, children will unlikely receive a satisfactory, inclusive education
Accessibility : Obviously, a student with a disability cannot learn in an inclusive classroom if
he cannot enter the room, let alone the school building. Some schools are still inaccessible to
students in wheelchairs or to those other mobility aides and need elevators, ramps, paved pathways
and lifts to get in need elevators, ramps, paved pathways and lifts to get in and around buildings.
Accessibility can go beyond passageways, stairs, and ramps to recreational areas, paved pathways,
and door handles. A student with cerebral palsy, for instance, may not have the ability to grasp and
turn a traditional doorknob. Classrooms must be able to accommodate a student’s assistive
technology devices, as well as other furniture to meet individual needs.

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Educational Modifications: Just as the environment must be accessible to students with
disabilities, the curriculum must facilitate inclusive education, too. General educators must be
willing to work with inclusion specialists to must be willing to work with inclusion specialists to
make modifications and accommodations in both teaching methods and classroom and homework
assignments. Teachers should be flexible in how students learn and demonstrate knowledge and
understanding. Written work, for example, should be limited if a student cannot write and can
accomplish the same or similar learning objective through a different method.
Cooperation: One of the final barriers associated with inclusion education is a lack of
communication among administrators, teachers, specialists, staff, parents, and students. Open
communication and coordinated planning between general education and coordinated planning
between general education teachers and special education staff are essential for inclusion to work.
Time is needed for teachers and specialists to meet and create well-constructed plans to identify
and implement modifications the, accommodations, and specific goals for individual students.
Collaboration must also exist among teachers, staff, and parents to meet a student’s needs and
facilitate learning at home.
These are just five factors that can affect students with disabilities in a general education
classroom. Only a deep understanding of these factors, and other understanding of these factors,
and other issues that hinder inclusion, and the elimination of them will make true inclusion a reality
for all children to learn together.

ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS
Some of the greatest barriers related to inclusion in education are negative attitudes. Many
people are not prepared to interact with people with disabilities. They think that persons with
disabilities lack the skills needed to live in the community or to be educated with nondisabled
children.
Another attitudinal barrier faced by students with disabilities is physical and emotional bullying
which is a serious barrier to learning and can lead to isolation and closure of possible inclusion.
Often, they are the object of ridicule or outright ostracism in school and community.
As with society in general, it is important that consistent and strong advocacy must be given to
them considering that negative attitudes and stereotypes are often caused by a lack of knowledge,
understanding, and acceptance of persons with disabilities.

PHYSICAL BARRIERS
The lack of wheelchair ramps in school buildings, malls, parks, playgrounds, washrooms, and
public transportation is a main difficulty identified by several students with disabilities when going
to school and public places. Undoubtedly, most school structures do not respond to this
requirement
There is also lack of facilities or assistive technology to aid children with a particular type of
difficulty. Assistive technology (AT) means the products and the services designed to meet the
particular needs of people with disabilities allow them to build up their abilities and meaningfully
participate in the affairs of their home, school, work and community.

Pedagogical barrier:
The curriculum is one of the chief impediments to the progress of inclusive education. It happens
because it does not meet the needs of a broad range of diverse learners. In many contexts, it is

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centralized in design and rigid in approach which causes little flexibility for modification based on
the local setting or for teachers to try out new approaches.
UNTRAINED TEACHERS
The educators are the most significant human resource for advancing inclusive education. Their
proficiency and outlook have a dramatic impact on the lives of students who are different and who
have learning challenges. Unfortunately, the teachers’ competency and attitudes can be the most
important constraints for inclusive education.
Apart from lack of technical ability is the teachers’attitude. If teachers do not have optimistic
attitude toward children with special educational needs, meaningful education for them is far-
fetched.
Moreover, the persistent demand for standardized testing or other academic standards might hinder
teacher’s creativity in teaching children with special needs.

Systemic barrier:
Insufficient funding is a chief threat to the implementation of inclusion. It is reflected in the
scarcity of resources like insufficient classrooms, inadequate facilities, lack of teachers, and/or
dearth of qualified staff, scarce learning materials, and absence of support. Significantly,
insufficient funding can hamper ongoing professional development that helps keep both specialists
and classroom teachers updated on the best practices of inclusion.
POOR ORGANIZATION OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
Responsibility for decisions tends to be located at the highest level and the focus of management
remains oriented toward employees, complying with rules rather than ensuring quality service
delivery.
Another organizational barrier is the lack of communication among administrators, teachers,
specialists, staff, parents, and students. As a result, information on the number of students excluded
from the school system is lacking.
POLICIES AS BARRIERS
Policy makers who have unsound grasp or opposing views on inclusive education are obstacles
to the implementation of inclusive policies.

These obstacles in inclusive education consist of a short list of factors that can affect students with
disabilities in a general education classroom. Only a profound understanding of these factors and
relevant issues that hinder inclusion, and the elimination of them will make true inclusion a reality
for all children to learn together.

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