Issues related to Deprived Class Education
The concept of Deprived/ Marginalized Groups is generally used to analyse socioeconomic, political, and cultural spheres, where disadvantaged people struggle to gain access to resources and full participation in social life. In other words, marginalized people might be socially, economically, politically and legally ignored, excluded, or neglected, and, therefore vulnerable. Marginality’ is demeaning, for economic well-being, for human dignity, as well as for physical security.
Marginalization/deprived is generally described as the overt actions or tendencies of human societies, where people who they perceive to be undesirable or without useful function are excluded, i.e., marginalized. The people who are Deprived/ Marginalized are outside the existing systems of protection and integration. This limits their opportunities and means for survival.
Dissemination and public education
People, including parents and school personnel, are largely unaware of the full intent of the recent legislation passed by Indian Parliament. A large number of school personnel are also not aware of funding available to include students with disabilities in regular schools. There is some evidence that those educators who are knowledgeable about government policies and laws concerning integrated education tend to have positive attitudes toward implementing such programs. There is also evidence when parents are knowledgeable and supportive of integrated education; they tend to have a positive effect on school personnel. Thus, unless people, especially parents of children with disabilities and school personnel, are made knowledgeable about the various provisions enshrined in the Act, the Central and State governments’ commitment to providing integrated education will be in vain. Although some attempts are being made to disseminate information about the Persons with Disabilities Act to parents, to government officials and non government organizations, they have been extremely limited in coverage.
The challenge of providing adequate levels of training to key stakeholders
The majority of school personnel in India are not trained to design and implement educational programs for students with disabilities in regular schools. Most teacher training programs in India do not have a unit on Disability Studies. The universities, which do cover some aspects of special education in their teacher training programs, fail to train teachers adequately to work in integrated settings.
Inadequate resources: The majority of schools in India are poorly designed and few are equipped to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. The lack of disability friendly transportation services and accessible buildings are considered by some to be far greater problems than social prejudice and negative attitudes. Both the Central and State governments will have to provide increased resources to this aspect of education to ensure successful implementation of integrated practices in schools.