Suresh Gupta pitches for inclusion, bridging gaps for access and participation of learners
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Suresh Kumar Gupta, Principal Secretary to the J&K Government School Education Department, called upon the School Education Functionaries, particularly the Mid-level Managers and HOIs, to ensure Inclusive and Equitable Education for all children in Jammu & Kashmir.
He was speaking in a consultation workshop on Equitable and Inclusive Education with a focus on the Early Identification of Disabilities organized by the National Development Foundation Jammu in collaboration with the Directorate of Samagra Shiksha J&K, Directorate of School Education Jammu and UNICEF India.
Around 100 HOIs from Jammu & Samba districts participated in the workshop.
Director School Education Jammu Ashok Kumar Sharma, Director Poshan J&K Kishori Lal Sharma, Joint Director SCERT Prof. Sindhu Kapoor, Dr. Bilal Rashid Deputy Director Planning Samagra Shiksha J&K and Danish Aziz, Education Specialist UNICEF India also addressed the participants and retreated the commitment of School Education Department for the Inclusive and Equitable Education.
Rajiv Khajuria, President of the National Development Foundation, presented a keynote address and briefed the participants that NEP advocates the Rights of Children with Special Needs at par with the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016. The Resource Persons of the workshop were Raj Kumar Chadha (Coordinator Inclusive Samagra), Harkesha Kar (Early Intervention Expert GMC Jammu), Neha Kalra (Special Educator), Dr. Nikhil Jamwal (MO RBSK, CMO Off. Jammu) and Vidushi Sharma (State Programme Coordinator CIIT J&K).
Sunny Kumar, Programme Manager NDF, welcomed the participants while Nisha Pandita acted as stage secretary. IEC material on inclusive education was also released.
Suresh Kumar Gupta further added that National Education Policy 2020 has infused all aspects of Disability Inclusion throughout the policy with a special chapter on inclusive and equitable education focusing on the issues, challenges and recommendations to bridge the gaps to reduce disparity and to ensure access and participation of the learners.
He added that the policy had covered the issues and challenges of the unrepresented children, including Children with Disability, which are covered under socio-educationally backwards groups, which refer to gender identities, socio-cultural identities, socio-economic identities, geographic identities and disabilities.
Gupta called upon all the functionaries of the School Education Department to ensure Inclusive and Equitable Education in the best interest of the children in Jammu & Kashmir.
