Role of NGOs in Inclusive Education

All over the world, the role of Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in imparting education to disabled children cannot be undermined. In India, both the government and the NGOs work in close partnership to facilitate Inclusive Education. The NGOs are actively involved in creating awareness, mobilising resources, encouraging community participation and in-actual delivery of support and services to disabled children.

In the last two decades of the nineteen-century, NGOs had played an active role in imparting education to disabled children in India. They were instrumental in setting-up special schools for children with disabilities. The first school for the Deaf in Bombay was established in 1883 and, the first school for the Blind, at Amritsar, was set-up in 1887. These were followed by many other special schools for the Blind and the Deaf.  Thus, the NGO-run special school tradition came to be recognised as a prominent mode for educating children with disabilities.

This tradition went unquestioned till the mid 1950s, when few international agencies like The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind and Christian Blind Mission began experimenting with integration of visually impaired children with other children. Around 1970, the success of international experiments in placing disabled children in regular schools began to be noticed. A more comprehensive concept of Inclusion was enunciated in 1994 at Salamanca during a conference on education by UNESCO. 

With this concept of inclusion, the role of NGOs was re-defined. Their role was -
To develop special schools as specialist /resource centres for children whose disabilities are multiple and severe and who require additional therapy and counselling support
To use special schools as demonstration centres for professionals and others To draw upon the expertise of special schools in order to train teachers to teach more effectively in inclusive settings and to deal with pupil diversity
To utilise special schools for the development of educational material that would benefit all children, including those who have physical and/or communication difficulties

This modified role of NGOs was prominent in government programmes like the Project Integrated Education of the Disabled (1987), the District Primary Education Programme (1993) and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Universal Education Programme). All these programmes aimed at inclusion of disabled children into regular schools and utilising the experience of NGOs to improve the quality of inclusion.

Although NGOs have played a major role in responding to the needs of children with disabilities, there are still areas where they need to be more pro-active. The expertise of NGOs can be drawn upon for conducting research studies, periodic monitoring and evaluation of IE programmes etc.
Other countries too should promote similar alliances between the government and the NGOs to ensure that each and every disabled child is INCLUDED in the true sense of the word.

Dr. Anupriya Chadha
Chief Consultant - Inclusive Education
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, India