The developing nations at present are facing the daunting task of providing education for all children by the year 2015. Though education for all eluded developing nations for the past many decades, the present human rights approach, which is more prominent than ever before, is raising education as a fundamental right of the child and urging governments to make sure that every child gets education towards his/her empowerment in the society. Countries are deliberating on workable policies and practices to make education for all a reality in the stipulated time.

Most Governments look at the inclusive approach as a strategy to achieve education for all children with disabilities as it is considered to be economically viable and also addresses the fundamental fact that education should be available to the child with disability wherever he/she is.

Inclusive strategies aim at providing effective education addressing community participation, improving teacher skills, provision of learning materials, etc. The expectation of an inclusive education strategy is that the school should improve in all dimensions to address the educational needs of all children. However, the following parameters are considered vital for the successful inclusion of children with disabilities.

1. Readiness of the general education system to accept responsibility for the education of children with disabilities.
2. Encouragement from the community for including children with disabilities in local schools.
3. Readiness of parents of children with disabilities to admit the children in mainstream schools.
4. Enrolment rate of children with disabilities at least on par with that of non-disabled children.
5. Retention of children with disabilities in schools.
6. Ability of general classroom teachers to modify teaching-learning strategies to teach children with disabilities.
7. Provision of support materials such as aids and appliances and books.
8. Availability of specialist teacher support to the regular classroom teachers.

While trying to facilitate inclusion, the parental attitudes should also be looked into for creating conducive environment. Teachers should try to motivate parents for admitting children with disabilities in regular schools. Parents have to be oriented in such a way that they develop positive attitude towards the overall development of the child with disability.

Inclusion in the case of children with visual impairment

Inclusion has been successful in the case of children with visual impairment worldwide. In fact, integration of children with visual impairment in the mainstream is evident from the 1950s and persons with visual impairment became strong advocates of integration and later inclusion. However, it is also true that the majority of children with visual impairment are still not having access as adequate demand has not been created for education. It is estimated that 4.5 million children with visual impairment, most of them from the developing nations are currently unreached. The Global Campaign on Education for All Children with Visual Impairment (EFA-VI) being implemented by the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) acting in partnership with the World Blind Union highlights demand creation as one of the main principles to achieve education for all. In this context the following strategies become relevant to increase educational opportunities for these children.

• To ensure the early detection of children with visual impairment and the provision of appropriate early intervention services
• To improve the skills of general classroom teachers to facilitate access for all children with visual impairment in appropriate programmes.
• To ensure the retention in schools, of children with visual impairment who are admitted, thereby reducing the dropout rate
• To increase the achievement level of children with visual impairment in their academic, social and physical development
• To create greater awareness among the community of the capabilities of children with visual impairment and to encourage the acceptance of these children in society

Changing roles of special schools

Inclusive education is not a threat to the integrated education concept or the special school programmes. Among children with disabilities, not every person can be benefitted by inclusion. Inclusion is a two-way process. Firstly, the general education system should accept responsibility for the person with disability and secondly, the person with disability should also be in a position to integrate himself /herself properly in the mainstream. At times, the person with disability, for various reasons, feels more secured in a special school than in other settings. Therefore, special schools would continue to function for serving persons with disabilities. They can concentrate more on difficult groups such as children with additional disabilities. One can look at the chronological development of educational services for children with disability and the emerging changes from time to time in the approach and policy planning. It is noted that the introduction of one system had never suppressed the old system but has widened the scope and action of such system. Therefore, special schools can change their role in the following ways for expanding inclusion.

1. Serving as resource centers for a cluster of general education schools which are involved in inclusive education.
2. Organizing in service courses to the teachers of general schools in methods of handling children with disabilities.
3. Sharing special equipment with general schools for enriching the learning experiences of children with disabilities.
4. Organizing summer camps for children without disability to raise their awareness on disability related issues.
5. Providing residential school facilities to children with severe and profound disabilities.
6. Undertaking action research studies on disability related issues and disseminating the information to general schools.
7. >Initiating community based rehabilitation services to provide alternative education and rehabilitation to persons with disabilities in their own localities.

Though the above approaches are possible, efforts at all levels are necessary to facilitate effective interaction between special schools and inclusive approaches to instill a feeling that both approaches co-exist and each can complement the services of each other. This spirit would go a long way in establishing a base for the harmonious growth of services for persons with disabilities. Thus, special schools can play a vital role for the betterment of inclusive education.

The developing nations at present are facing the daunting task of providing education for all children by the year 2015. Though education for all eluded developing nations for the past many decades, the present human rights approach, which is more prominent than ever before, is raising education as a fundamental right of the child and urging governments to make sure that every child gets education towards his/her empowerment in the society. Countries are deliberating on workable policies and practices to make education for all a reality in the stipulated time.

Most Governments look at the inclusive approach as a strategy to achieve education for all children with disabilities as it is considered to be economically viable and also addresses the fundamental fact that education should be available to the child with disability wherever he/she is.

Inclusive strategies aim at providing effective education addressing community participation, improving teacher skills, provision of learning materials, etc. The expectation of an inclusive education strategy is that the school should improve in all dimensions to address the educational needs of all children. However, the following parameters are considered vital for the successful inclusion of children with disabilities.

1. Readiness of the general education system to accept responsibility for the education of children with disabilities.
2. Encouragement from the community for including children with disabilities in local schools.
3. Readiness of parents of children with disabilities to admit the children in mainstream schools.
4. Enrolment rate of children with disabilities at least on par with that of non-disabled children.
5. Retention of children with disabilities in schools.
6. Ability of general classroom teachers to modify teaching-learning strategies to teach children with disabilities.
7. Provision of support materials such as aids and appliances and books.
8. Availability of specialist teacher support to the regular classroom teachers.

While trying to facilitate inclusion, the parental attitudes should also be looked into for creating conducive environment. Teachers should try to motivate parents for admitting children with disabilities in regular schools. Parents have to be oriented in such a way that they develop positive attitude towards the overall development of the child with disability.

Inclusion in the case of children with visual impairment

Inclusion has been successful in the case of children with visual impairment worldwide. In fact, integration of children with visual impairment in the mainstream is evident from the 1950s and persons with visual impairment became strong advocates of integration and later inclusion. However, it is also true that the majority of children with visual impairment are still not having access as adequate demand has not been created for education. It is estimated that 4.5 million children with visual impairment, most of them from the developing nations are currently unreached. The Global Campaign on Education for All Children with Visual Impairment (EFA-VI) being implemented by the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) acting in partnership with the World Blind Union highlights demand creation as one of the main principles to achieve education for all. In this context the following strategies become relevant to increase educational opportunities for these children.

• To ensure the early detection of children with visual impairment and the provision of appropriate early intervention services
• To improve the skills of general classroom teachers to facilitate access for all children with visual impairment in appropriate programmes.
• To ensure the retention in schools, of children with visual impairment who are admitted, thereby reducing the dropout rate
• To increase the achievement level of children with visual impairment in their academic, social and physical development
• To create greater awareness among the community of the capabilities of children with visual impairment and to encourage the acceptance of these children in society

Changing roles of special schools

Inclusive education is not a threat to the integrated education concept or the special school programmes. Among children with disabilities, not every person can be benefitted by inclusion. Inclusion is a two-way process. Firstly, the general education system should accept responsibility for the person with disability and secondly, the person with disability should also be in a position to integrate himself /herself properly in the mainstream. At times, the person with disability, for various reasons, feels more secured in a special school than in other settings. Therefore, special schools would continue to function for serving persons with disabilities. They can concentrate more on difficult groups such as children with additional disabilities. One can look at the chronological development of educational services for children with disability and the emerging changes from time to time in the approach and policy planning. It is noted that the introduction of one system had never suppressed the old system but has widened the scope and action of such system. Therefore, special schools can change their role in the following ways for expanding inclusion.

1. Serving as resource centers for a cluster of general education schools which are involved in inclusive education.
2. Organizing in service courses to the teachers of general schools in methods of handling children with disabilities.
3. Sharing special equipment with general schools for enriching the learning experiences of children with disabilities.
4. Organizing summer camps for children without disability to raise their awareness on disability related issues.
5. Providing residential school facilities to children with severe and profound disabilities.
6. Undertaking action research studies on disability related issues and disseminating the information to general schools.
7. >Initiating community based rehabilitation services to provide alternative education and rehabilitation to persons with disabilities in their own localities.

Though the above approaches are possible, efforts at all levels are necessary to facilitate effective interaction between special schools and inclusive approaches to instill a feeling that both approaches co-exist and each can complement the services of each other. This spirit would go a long way in establishing a base for the harmonious growth of services for persons with disabilities. Thus, special schools can play a vital role for the betterment of inclusive education.