Responding to Children with Special Needs- A Manual for Planning and Implementation of Inclusive Education in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Abstract

The Government of India is fully committed to the goal of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE). To facilitate UEE. the Parliament o f India has passed the Constitutional (86"' Amendment) Act, making free and compulsory elementary education a Fundamental Right, for all the children in the age group o f 6 - 14 years through inclusion of the new Article 2 1A in Part III of the Constitution, as follows: 'The State shall provide tree and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law. determine.’ This amendment has given a new thrust to the education o f Children With Special Needs (CWSN), as without their inclusion, the objective of UEE cannot be achieved.