National Consultation on School Based Counseling and Special Needs' Services-2 August, 2014.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (C.B.S.E), the National Progressive Schools Conference (N.P.S.C) and Expressions India collaborated on a programme named The National Consultation on School- Based Counseling of Special Needs' Services, a round-table meet at the India International Centre on 2nd August, 2014. This is a part of a series for introspecting on the National School Mental Health Awareness Program. The initiative is aimed at bringing in voices and opinions on the inclusion of a spectrum of disabilities into mainstream classrooms. Our Principal, Ms. Tania Joshi and School Counsellor, Ms Sukhmeen Cheema were invite to participate in this programme.

Representative agencies like CBSE, NCERT, NUEPA, COBSE, NIOS,RCI , NCTE, NPSC and AISCAP came onto a common platform to contribute to the consensus guidelines. The programme witnessed deliberations by curriculam designers, principals, teachers, counsellors, and special needs' educators from different schools across Delhi and NCR.

Ms. Ameeta Mulla Wattal, Chairperson, NPSC, moderated the discussion, while Dr. Jitendra Nagpal, programme director, Expressions India, outlined the vision and plan that would serve as a roadmap for policy.

Chief guest, Mr. Rajarshi Bhattarcharya, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) laid emphasis on the need to identify the special abilities of those that society labels differently-abled. He added that such brainstorming sessions should encourage participants to recommend guidelines that could become a part of educational reforms.

Some issues, concerns and ideas discussed at the session were:

Dr. Kavita Sharma, Director, IIC spoke about the reciprocal relationships between disability and poverty, the differentiation of integrated education and inclusive education, the need to create an environment for tablets, the sensitisation of parents, teachers and support staff and the use of NCC and sports facilities

Professor Veera Gupta, Associate Professor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) drew attention to child rights and and the need for effective utilization of RTE Money for learning aids.

Other academicians in the audience emphasised the need to focus on a policy to change mindsets among policy partners and one, carrying a vision and a mission of special needs' education. Other points raised were the homogenisation of all forms of disability, all B.Ed programmes to have a special needs' education and the need for structural and functional purpose to be in tandem.

Principals from various schools spoke their concerns and recommendations. Ms. Tania Joshi pointed out the need to include students suffering from life-threatening diseases like cancer under the ambit of special education. She reiterated the importance of in-service teacher training so as to develop each teacher as a counselor. Ms. Sudha Acharya, Principal, ITL Public School, Dwarka, suggested that every school must have a 'Know your Child' form to make teachers familiar with all students.

The DISHA Foundation introduced their resource Centre in Jaipur highlighting the activities they conduct that make students live a more productive life. Ms. Tulika Talwar, Special educator, highlighted facts and figures related to differentlyabled students. She said 10-12 % of <18 years suffer from disorders in behavior , learning and development. She also said that the ICMR (2001) study found 12.8 % of children and adolescents suffering from mental and behavioral disorders.

This was followed by a presentation by NIOS, which believes that not everyone needs to reach university, but more important is that each one finds a vocation so that a life can be led fruitfully. They listed activities conducted by them, with centres throughout India, the fees being nominal and learning material made easily available.

The session concluded with proposed guidelines from various agencies that will be submitted to MHRD. Recommendations on inclusive education such as creating zonal and district clusters and nodal support centres, having refresher courses for teachers and counselors, parent- advocacy programmes, partnerships with local mental health and counseling agencies, mandatory disabled-friendly school infrastructure and environment and having vocational subjects for children with special needs were also agreed upon.

Filed by Ms. Sukhmeen Cheema.