National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) in collaboration with National Disability Network (NDN) has organised a consultation regarding the development of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in the area of school education, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), teacher education and adult education. Present in the consultation were the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), organisations of persons-with-disability, and sector experts.
The consultation was chaired by Sruti Mohapatra, member, National Focus Group. The key points from the discussion includes conduction of focus study on all the existing government schemes to promote inclusive education, re-examination of budgetary allocations for the same, addressing the diverse needs of disability groups and the importance of flexible curriculum for inclusive pedagogy, and incorporation of universal design learning methods for inclusive education.
It was also concluded in the consultation that accessibility should not be limited to infrastructure only but must be included in curriculum and digital education. Previously, NCERT notified about the constitution of the National Focus Groups for developing position papers on various themes to provide inputs for the NCF in the area of school education, ECCE, teacher education and adult education.
“For the first-time children or persons with disabilities find mention in the NEP 2020 right from ECCE up to higher education after continuous perseverance from the entire disability sector. The NCF provides the disability sector with another opportunity to come together and emphasise that disability is a cross-cutting issue across all themes and not limited to inclusive education.” Arman Ali, executive director, NCPEDP, said.
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