Bhubaneswar: Even though there is a lot of talk on universalisation of elementary education, there is no focus yet on inclusive education in our country. ‘Education for All’ still remains a dream as government focus on education is invisible.
These views were expressed by social activists, educationists, teachers and representatives from NGOs during a round table conference on ‘inclusive education’ organised on the eve of Global Action Week 2019 here Tuesday.
National Coalition for Education in collaboration with Sustainability Foundation organised the event. More than 25 experts from NGOs, research institutions, school teachers attended the meet.
They discussed various issues such as the need for training of teachers for special needs children; GO-NGO coordination for inclusive education under Mo-School scheme of the state government; priorities that the state government has to focus on to actualise ‘My Education-My Right’ theme; adequate budgetary allocation for inclusive education.
“We will collate the feedback of the experts and submit a charter of demands to the state government to make our concerns heard,” said Naba Kishore Pujari, Co-Founder of Sustainability Foundation.
This year the theme for GCE is Global Action Week for Education with focus on ensuring inclusive education.
Santosh Patra from Oxfam India, Sudatta Khuntia from ActionAid, Gouranga Mohapatra, Sandhya Jena, Principal, BJEM School, representatives from World Vision India, Odisha RTE Forum were among those present at the conference.