From Special to Inclusive Education in India

Chapter 3

Gyan Vihar School: A School with a Unit

This chapter looks at the first of the three schools—Gyan Vihar School—which has had a Special Education Unit (SEU) since 1976, and claims that the school has been ‘integrating from the beginning’. The chapter discusses the main school; the SEU, the special children; the delivery of special education; and perceptions of integration and inclusion. A brief profile of the main school provides the context for examining characteristics of the SEU, and the extent to which the SEU is an integral or external part of the school. The section on special children examines the process of becoming ‘special’ and accessing the mainstream school, and a variety of identifiers by which the children are constructed ...