Education of Children with Diverse Learning Needs

Education of children with diverse learning needs, particularly those with disabilities, has seen a significant change since the enactment of Right to Education Act - in India. Enrolment of children with disabilities in schools has markedly increased over the past decade. The report of the National Advisory Committee headed by Professor Yash Pal did not touch upon education of children with disabilities specifically. However, many of the points made in the report are relevant to the current day education of children with disabilities. The committee’s recommendations regarding observation, learning by doing, focus on life experiences, knowledge and its application, criterion-based evaluation instead of competition support the education of children with disabilities. This chapter reviews these recommendations alongside teacher preparation to achieve the objectives of inclusive education. It seeks to address the following questions: has the educational system moved away from just providing information to facilitating critical thinking? How do children with disabilities learn? Are they learning without burden?