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DEFINING THE FUTURE
BY
Nandini Rawal
INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION OF PEOPLE WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT (ICEVI)
&
PROJECT DIRECTOR
BLIND PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION
VASTRAPUR, AHMEDABAD-380 015
DEFINING THE FUTURE
Bengt Lindqvist, UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission for Social Development on Disability says, “The challenge now is to formulate requirements of a `school for all’. All children and young people of the world (…) have the right to education. It is not our education systems that have a right to certain types of children. It is the school system of a country that must be adjusted to meet the needs of all children.”
This statement, by a renowned statesman, who also happens to be visually impaired, is a prognosis of visible trends in the field of education. The world of education is going to be shaken and stirred and will witness sea-changes. If this will happen to education of non-disabled children, we will not be able to escape it indefinitely. Now is the time for us to introspect, research, analyze and prepare for the future.
As a Keynote Speaker for this topic, I feel it is my duty to provoke thinking, set the tone for this subject and compel all of you to sit up and dwell on the existing scenario and discuss future implications.
It is in the extra ordinary challenges of today’s schools and a world changing at breakneck speed that we educators of children with visual impairment stand here today
1. The Golden Years:
I am happy to be talking about the school years which constitute the most impressionable part of a child’s life.
The school years are the vital years which define a child’s future, her mindset, her feeling of self worth and her ability to cope with life.
This is the golden period where dreams can be woven, imagination can take wings. And as educators we are partners in this very vital period.
2. Beyond Pure Education
· Bridges from Today to Tomorrow (1982)
· Learning to Live (1987)
· Working Together in the Decade of the Nineties (1992)
· Stepping forward Together- Families and Professional as Partners in Achieving Education for All (1997)
This year’s theme is New Visions: Moving Towards Inclusive Communities. What better and futuristic theme could we hope for?
I stand here at this juncture not to talk about the technicalities of education, not which model is better or whether integration does work…..
I stand here to highlight some trail blazing events of this century and provoke your thoughts towards challenges.
3. 1. Education is no longer a `redundant’ item on the agenda:
Education, in general has marched its ways into world fora and the halls of the UN reverberate with the “Education for All” (EFA). The universally accepted goal of Education for All remains one of the most daunting challenges today.
The E-9 initiative of the UN created in 1999, is a highly visible initiative for basic education in the world’s 9 most populated countries (Bangla Desh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan). These countries also together have the largest population of persons with visual impairment.
The expected results of the UN initiative are the access to EFA programmes through formal and non-formal education and distance education. This is a massive programme which will rope in all forms of education and will take place under our very noses, while we watch from a distance---
The role of ICEVI Educators and concerned persons is to take this movement to the doorsteps of the people and children with disabilities. We, the Educators need to sit up, identify strategies of making `EFA’ a reality so as to enable our children to get access to services while ensuring that we are a part of this massive drama.
3.2. From Programme to a Movement:
We tend to think of our educational programmes in isolation and nurture them lovingly and possessively. We would shudder if we had to let go and join the mainstream. It is only when hundreds of educators and education programmes jump into mainstream education, will this become a movement. India has unified its various educational models into a uniform one called `Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (Education for All). Disabled children no longer have to beg for a place in the educational system, they are the rightful and legal units of the system.
3.3. The `Rights’ Issue:
Disability is no longer an issue that can be conveniently brushed under the carpet. It is a volatile, dynamic and very visible field. The days of benevolent teaching and paternal styles of management have been replaced with disabled consumers demanding their rights to education.
Point 01005 of the UNESCO Major Programme On Education reads, “The urgency of action regarding the achievement of the basic education is based on the view that, as we enter the 21st century, the denial of anyone’s right to education is fundamentally unacceptable. This urgency has become more imperative due to the impact of globalisation and communication at the interface between society, economy and technology.
Along with such global statements, the education of the disabled has also become a matter of right. Over the world, USA, UK, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, to name a few countries have seen the enactment of Disability Acts which make education of the disabled a `right’ not an act of compassion. In India, after the Disability Act of 1995, enrollment of disabled children in regular schools increased 15 fold.
3.4. The Emergence of the New Group:
The Indian Council of Medical Research Report 1998 says by 2004, there will be 4 low vision children for every one blind child. The educational models with emphasis on the strategies on teaching only totally blind children will be woefully inadequate and outdated. The new low vision group will find their way into inclusive models with or without us. It is upto us to see how we change our approaches to include them.
The other large group which is emerging is visually impaired children with additional disabilities. The education of these children presents a very large challenge in terms of upgrading of teacher skills as well as acceptance in the existing systems.
3.5. Making the `Impossible Possible’:
In India, education of disabled children was a welfare and charity based issue till 1981. With the proclamation of the Scheme of Integrated Education of Disabled Children, education for disabled children came under the purview of the education department for the first time. The numbers of disabled children getting access to education was still pitifully negligible.
When various non-governmental organisations got together and forced the government that education of disabled children needed a focus and a boost, tangible results were recorded.
In my state of Gujarat which is in the western part of India, the number of disabled children who were enrolled in schools increased from 2000 children in 1995 to 30,000 children in 2002. From a dismal 2% of disabled children who availed of education in 1995, 30% of disabled children are now in schools.
Behind this spectacular increase lies the story of dedicated bureaucrats who sat along with educators, stakeholders and worked out a detailed and practical plan for making the impossible happen.
All conferences bemoan the fact that so little is done, I have therefore shown you `things happen to people who want them to happen’.
4. What the Future Demands:
Alvin Toffler has said `The uneducated of the 21st century is not one who is illiterate, he is one who has stopped learning’. A consortium of educators like ours must ensure that we change with the times and are forearmed for the future.
The need of the 21st century is to look at new areas, refurbish old programmes, recharge age old systems thus:
4.1. To be effective, you do not have to be “rich”
The school of the 21st century will be one that teaches its children to survive and excel.
The International, Commission on Education for the 21st Century, “Learning – The Treasure” within says `To show regard for diversity and individuality is a fundamental principle, education can promote cohesion if it strives to take the diversity of individuals into consideration while taking care that it does not itself contribute to social exclusion’.
The good school is one which inculcates good values among children, is equal in its approach to children, respects diversities and encourages learning through participation. A `good’ school does not need to be `rich’. It may be one with mud walls and thatched roofs where the teachers and learners are active. Teachers who in teaching also learn and students who in learning also teach (Freire). Our pious duty would be identify and work with such schools where our children learn skills for life.
Schools have physical as well as other barriers to learning. Physical barriers can be mowed down or broken, it is the other walls that are invisible stumbling blocks. We must constantly introspect that our educational system does not keep learning confined to the four walls, our teachers must bring the world into the class room, the fantasies, creativities and enthusiasm of the child must find an answer in the heart of the teacher and teaching. Our school without walls must also reach out to other forms of learning like the peer group, family and the community for ensuring the sustained learning of the child.
4.3. The Development of Human Capital:
Human Capital is most definitely a function of education. This capital is characterised by diversity in practice but uniformity in fundamentals. Educated individuals add to the Gross Domestic Product of the country by their ultimate contribution through remunerative work. All disabled persons are a burden on the country’s exchequer till they are converted to capital. Educators can create this capital in the precious school years by preparing children for work. Every school year of the child must contribute to the development of this capital.
4.4. For those who have missed the bus:
India has the largest system of open schools for children who cannot attend regular classes or who have dropped out for a variety of reasons including rigidity of the traditional school system and its examinations. The National Open School (NOS) has over 500,000 children enrolled which provides educational services in the distance education mode. It offers a flexible curriculum, multiple options and modular courses to suit the needs and circumstances of students. The NOS has been very popular as learning centres for children with disabilities. Many learning centres have been accredited by the NOS offering its flexible and innovative courses and learning materials to children in special schools. Educators must explore, or create if there are none, such options for our visually impaired children who have missed schooling due to late identification, non-availability of services or lack of awareness. The Educators must redefine the school years to include children from early intervention to people in their late teens who have missed the bus.
4.5. Gender Responsive Education System:
Over the years, the right of the girl child have received considerable media attention. The girl child with a disability remains one of the most marginalized segments. Traditional educational systems, especially in the developing countries, have largely ignored her needs. With the advent of community based programmes a break through has been achieved but the results are still too small to be highlighted. The need of this Conference is to develop an educational system which is gender responsive. Educators would need to network with other groups which work at increasing educational levels of non-disabled girls. A holistic and inter disciplinary approach needs to be worked out for gender equality in education of the visually impaired.
A concrete and eye opening instance is that in Gujarat of the total visually impaired children enrolled in education only 10% were girls in 1981. In 2002, the enrollment of visually impaired girls increased to 42% of the total enrollment, thanks to community based educational initiatives.
4.6. The 21st Century Teacher
The 21st century teacher need not be a superhuman. All that is required is a change in perspective of planners. The Rehabilitation Council of India, a statutory body of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has prescribed the syllabus for teachers and other special educators. The general teacher training courses are also being amended to include capabilities of teaching disabled children in India. These teachers will be better equipped to teach disabled children alongwith other children. The teachers in residential as well as integrated settings will need to change with the times. ICEVI as an umbrella global organization should endeavour to develop international teacher – policy norms for educational reform and improving quality of teachers. Educators should also contribute to such initiatives by sharing best practices suitable to the environments that they teach in.
5. The Last Word:
If the Salamanca statement “Every child has a fundamental right to education and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning” is to come true, we need to go beyond the confines of our agencies. We need to go out and join in the mass movement so that we may say sometime in the future “All our children with disabilities are in schools, what do we do to enrich their futures?”.
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