The role of distance education in Inclusive Education. Pathy Susanta Kumar Dept. of Education, Saraswati college of Professional Studies, Ghaziabad Email: sushantpathy@gmail.com Abstract In a world where approximately 113 million children are not enrolled in primary school (DFID, 2005), Lewin (2003) highlights the potential for education to reverse the negative effects of social exclusion. There are an estimated 25 million children out of school in India (MHRD 2003 statistics, cited in World Bank, 2004), many of whom are marginalised by dimensions such as poverty, gender, disability, and caste. While many educational programmes have attempted to reach out to these previously excluded children, those with disabilities are often forgotten, emphasising their invisible status in a rigidly categorised society. The second goal of the UN Millennium Development calls for universal primary education by 2015. Is this goal too ambitious? How much have/are the educational systems doing around the world to achieve this goal? Is the political will there? Is education really inclusive? These questions and many more are critical. Inclusive education that is concerned with all learners, with a focus on those who have traditionally been excluded from educational opportunities such as learners with special needs and disabilities, children from ethnic and linguistic minorities could be one of the many ways of achieving the second UN Millennium Development goal. This paper engages a debate on whether the education system is actually inclusive or not. The paper focuses mainly on the inclusion of children and/or people with disabilities; the challenges children and/or people with disabilities face; and lastly the role that distance education could play towards achieving inclusive education. Children with disability are a minority that are not prioritized in the context of education programmes in India, although they are often found in many marginalized groups that are catered for if non-disabled? For example girls, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward castes children. Inclusive education may be a way of merging these children's needs in order to improve school quality and achieve EFA. However a dominant conceptualization of IE in India, combined with negative attitudes towards disability, are currently preventing this approach. After exploring the relevance of disability and inclusive education in the context of EFA, This paper analyses the interpretation and implementation of inclusive education in India through distance mode. The issues and concerns faced by the stakeholders involved and the implications these may have particularly for the children with disability, lead to the conclusion that the twin-track approach to disability may assist not only in improving education access, but also the reconceptualization of Inclusive education is a school quality issue. In the long term it is hoped that it could assist in fulfilling the right to education for all children. Top Keywords Inclusive education, disabilities, UN Millennium Development goal, distance. Top |