ABSTRACT
At NRCI-I we had set our sights on policy reforms for the larger goal of universal education in India, irrespective of disability, social disadvantage, or gender. The special focus was to ensure within this larger goal how children with disability could be included. A Herculean task indeed and one beset with questions and uncertainty. What was our ‘theory’ of policy change to be? What assumptions about how education policy reform actually happens should guide the pursuit of such lofty aspirations? We had an understanding of what policies needed to change; but among the numerous policy barriers and factors already researched and documented, which were we to prioritize? What achievable policy objectives to advance? The agenda had been set in general terms in the analysis and conclusion reached in the thesis: ICDS would need to mandate that all children included children with disability; inclusive education would need to become a mandate of the Ministry of Education, rather than Social Justice and Empowerment (as renamed from the Ministry of Welfare in 1998), and funding and accountabilities for this would need to be established. But where were we to begin? What was the path of policy change to be?
