The larger collective concern, if we understand the spirit of the deliberations during the consultative meeting, on the issue of classroom inclusion is that despite of the various critical issues which demands immediate attention there is a simmering voice of hope which needs to be strengthen, nurtured and harnessed for future engagements. As reflected from the collective discussions that entailed mainly understanding the contemporary perspectives and practices in the light of emerging critical thinking out of the regional consultations provides us a potential ground for building up synergistic framework and action for addressing the concerns of pluralism and social inclusion.
In this we feel the urgency and need to share two major collective concerns that emerged out in the meeting:
· Issues of school education need to be seen from outside the classroom as all which is intimately related to many external factors.
Looking from the critical understanding of educational engagement of marginal community both in terms of access and quality so far is understood to be a product of the differential interactions of caste, religion, culture, gender, ethnicity, religion, geography, class, disability etc.
· Such multi-dimensional, overlapping and complex nature of school deprivation definitely calls for multiple engagements and
interventions in terms of short and long term goals with respect to not only in terms of textbooks, teaching-learning practices but other cultural factors such behavioural attitudes, contradictions between aim of formal education and community aspirations and choices etc. Such approach will facilitate in developing and strengthening the forward linkages between school, community and the state in a larger level.
A collective concern emerging out of the deliberations is the immediate need to engage with the pressing issues of teaching-learning
practices from plural perspective. Private schools have so far remained out of the preview of government intervention in terms of
perspective and practice. As discussed during the meeting in the wake of recent government intervention on the matters of private schools to implement the quota norm for marginalized children a crisis-like situation seems to have arisen in the absence of a broader framework and lack of exposure to culture-specific understanding of the teaching- learning practices of marginalized children. As collectively understood under such circumstance there is an immediacy to engage with private schooling with respect to building up a framework to engage with curriculum, teacher education, textbook etc. Research is another dimension where it is felt that available studies on the marginal children needs to replicated to explore the dynamics of classroom in private school. Related to research another important dimension understood to be explored is advocacy where the important plural elements best-practices of diverse schools can be integrated in teaching-learning practices especially in the field of teacher training.
An interesting aspect of the recent development with regard to school education is that it has come forth with newer opportunities
for democratic engagement. For instance Right to Education Act (RTE), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has emerged as important steps to reach to the masses. A common concern emerged out of the deliberation is that ‘mainstreaming’ of the critical perspective emerging out the regional consultations will be crucial for strengthening the links between school community in order to have a better spread-effect. Therefore, the immediate collective task is to identify common areas of engagements both at the level of policy, research and practice between the ongoing government policy framework and programmes and the emerging concerns on the part of regional consultations to develop synergistic strategies for making those actionable at micro and macro level. Some of the common areas immediately identified during the course of the meeting are: i. School-community relationship ii. Teacher education iii. Research on culture specific learning iii. Specific issues Governance
