Introduction of Inclusive Education

The right to an inclusive education is articulated in both the Conventional the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability (CRPD). Consistent with ratifying these conventions, the Nepalese Government expresses its commitment to inclusive education in an array of documents and policies, including the Inclusive Education policy. Each of these documents recognizes the importance of responding to student diversity and ensuring the participation of all students as learners. However, while children who experience disability continue to be denied equal access to inclusive education from early childhood through to adulthood, the requirements of these conventions are not being upheld.  This requires acting upon the recognition that “inclusion is a right, not a special privilege for a select few”. Ill-informed attitudes and low expectations form a vicious cycle limiting opportunities for children who experience disability. Additionally, research has found that by age six children demonstrate internalized cultural preferences and prejudices reflective of the communities in which they live, including making unsolicited prejudiced statements about community members. The development of these entrenched prejudices in the childhood years creates a cycle of prejudice that inhibits social cohesion. Fostering inclusion in the childhood years has the potential to break this cycle, thus making childhood an important focus area for developing inclusion. However, changes in the views and behaviors of children are unlikely without changes in adult views and behaviors. One issue that contributes to the difficulties in upholding the right to inclusive education, in Nepal and internationally, is confusion regarding what comprises inclusive education and the frequent misappropriation of the term. Despite the right to inclusive education specified in the CRPD, what constitutes inclusive education varies across contexts and interpretations. Inclusion is often viewed as an ‘added extra’ or a ‘special effort’ born out of kindness or charity. By contrast, inclusion is a right and is fundamental to a functioning society. Since few years the move towards inclusive education has been gradually building. Subsequently considerable research has focused on the outcomes of inclusive education.

Inclusive education involves embracing human diversity and welcoming all children and adults as equal members of an educational community. This involves valuing and supporting the full participation of all people together within mainstream educational settings. Inclusive education requires recognizing and upholding the rights of all children and adults and understanding human diversity as a rich resource and an everyday part of all human environments and interactions. Inclusive education is an approach to education free from discriminatory beliefs, attitudes and practices, including free from albinism. Inclusive education requires putting inclusive values into action to ensure all children and adults belong, participate and flourish.

Positive parenting:

is it just one more meaningless buzz word or phrase? The first time I heard that phrase, I went blank. “What are we talking about here?” I wondered. “What is positive parenting defined?”

It turns out that I am not the first or only person to be confused about positive parenting. Most folks think it’s about parenting without spanking. But positive parenting goes so much deeper than that.

Positive Parenting Defined

Positive parenting is focused on developing a strong, deeply committed relationship between parent and child based on communication and mutual respect. Positive Parenting focuses on teaching children not just what but also why. Positive parenting means training children toward self-control.

There are three major components to positive parenting:

•  Rules and consequences are laid out, discussed often, and followed through.
• Parents focus on helping children internalize discipline, rather than obey orders based on fear of punishment, in order to develop self-discipline.
• Parents use active listening to understand children’s thoughts. This allows parents to correct misunderstandings or mistaken links of logic.

Positive Disciplining:

Beginning with a federal mandate in the early 1990s, schools across the country adopted “zero tolerance” policies to improve school safety. These policies were originally designed to protect students and staff from the most dangerous student misbehavior, such as bringing a gun to school. Over the past few decades, however, schools have increasingly applied zero tolerance policies to a host of conduct problems—including vandalism, bullying, and dress code violations—leading to dramatic increases in student suspensions. In many schools, harsh discipline policies are applied more often to students of color and to students with disabilities.

Research shows that a zero tolerance approach to school discipline does not promote school safety. In fact, punitive approaches that exclude children and youth from schools can actually increase behavior problems, the risk of substance use and violence, and the likelihood of academic failure. The result is that struggling students are being pushed out of school, leading many on a path to the juvenile or criminal justice systems.

A Positive School Discipline approach, however, creates a supportive learning environment where all students can thrive. Reserving suspension and expulsion as measures of last resort and employing alternative programs and practices that support student needs and hold students accountable, yet keep them engaged in the classroom, leads to higher achievement and improved graduation rates.