Inclusive education is about embracing all; making a commitment to do whatever it takes to provide each student in the community- and each citizen in a democracy- an inalienable right to belong, not to be excluded. Inclusion assumes that living and learning together is a better way that benefits everyone and not just the children who are labeled as having a difference.
It is this sort of inclusive education that we strive to provide to visually impaired students through our Project Drishti.
After discussions with visually impaired students in our own school and also the students and teachers at the National Association for the Blind, we came to the realization that while inclusive classrooms are very helpful in creating a supportive and empathetic environment for everyone, the visually impaired students are often not able to share the same experiences and activities as others.
So we have come up with 5 tactile educational elements.
1. Tactile rubic's cube
2. Tactile colour pencils
3. Tactile number puzzle
4. Spurwheels
5. Colouring pages and maps
These will be distributed to 100 visually impaired students in 10 schools across Delhi, and are made tactile by the students of Tagore International School.