Abstract—Inclusive education has been internationally recognized as a philosophy for attaining equity, justice and quality education for all children, especially those who have been traditionally excluded from mainstream education for reasons of disability, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics. Inclusion of children with special needs in mainstream education demands the preparation of teachers to suit their needs. The need for teachers who have both the knowledge and the ability to teach in an inclusive classroom is more critical today than ever before. There are lots of challenges in India combined with socially and economically complicated contexts.
This paper identifies key concepts associated with inclusive education and discusses them in relation to issues and challenges in the reform of teacher education. It argues that the reform of teacher education for inclusive education is an important activity in improving educational equity and addressing diversity in education. It also highlights the important role teacher plays to bridge the gap between inclusive policies and practices in India.
Index Terms—Inclusive education, children with special needs, equality, empowerment, diversity.
Pushpa, Kumari and Geetanjali Baswani are with School of Educational studies, Dr. Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India (e-mail: pushpa.nayan@gmail.com, daisiesgeeta@gmail.com).
Rajiv Nayan is with the Department of Commerce, Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, India (e-mail: rajivnayan32@gmail.com).
S. P Aggarwal is with Principal, Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, India (e-mail: spa15_dbce@yahoo.com).
Cite: Pushpa Kumari, Rajiv Nayan, S. P Aggarwal, and Geetanjali Baswani, "Rethinking Teacher Education Programmes for Inclusive Classrooms: Issues and Challenges in India," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 143-148, 2019.