Retina India South India regional conference on inclusive education
Vamshi. G
The South India Regional Conference on Inclusive Education organised
by Retina India on Saturday November 26, 2011 at The Presidency
College, Chennai, discussed the issues and concerns in implementing
inclusive education, particularly in the context of children afflicted
with retinal disorders or any retina related conditions. Experts who
participated in the conference spoke on the concept of inclusivity and
how it is enshrined in the laws and conventions.
The morning sessions, viz, explaining Inclusion as a concept, Low
Vision aids and parents perspective, provided teachers the idea of
inclusion. Ms Rajul Padmanabhan, Director Vidyasagar and Ms Vaishnavi
Jayakumar, Founder The Banyan, spoke respectively on how inclusion has
impacted the planning of our educational system and social attitude
towards persons with disability. Ms Deepti Bhatya, Deputy Director of
Vidyasagar also spoke on how inclusion is a win win situation for
children and society at large.
The session on low vision aids and accessibility described the
various devices used in a classroom context which would help children
access study material and learn on their own. Dr Krishna Kumar and his
colleague Ms Sarika, who spoke on the session explained about various
low vision aids through videos and how they can be accommodated in
schools. Parents session, moderated by Prof Kalyanaraman, saw an
emotional recollection of a parent’s struggle in finding a school for
her son, who has now educated and become a lawyer.
In the afternoon session, a string of role models, Mr Vijayakumar a Lawyer,
Mr. Sriram a Research Scholar with IITM, Ms Abinaya a RJ, Mr. Sriram a
Lecturer with Presidency College Chennai, who have come through the
inclusive education system, explained to teachers how their own
schools have managed them and what they could learn from inclusive
environment. The overwhelming message was that an inclusive education
environment is conducive for overall growth of children with visual
challenge.
During the final session, which was an open forum and moderated by
Mr. L Subramani, teachers spoke on the challenges in implementing
inclusive education and the wish that conferences such as SIRCIE to be
conducted in their own cities. Retina India, while explaining the
reasons for focusing on inclusive education, also agreed to work with
the teachers who attended the conference from Chennai, Ongole,
Tiruchi, Coimbatore etc to help them spread the message of inclusion
amongst their fellow teachers and also speak about it in their
schools.
This is the first step in creating a platform for inclusive education
in which Retina India would work with schools and take efforts to
create model schools in different regions.
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Vamshi. G
PH No. : 0877-2243861
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www.retinaindia.org
From darkness unto light