It is important to sensitise schools in inclusivity, said Shekhar Seshadri, Professor, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans).
Speaking on the sidelines at the symposium’ for school principals of IB, CBSE, ICSE and State boards organised by Macmillan Education and Franc Bros here on Friday, Dr. Seshadri was commenting on the implementation of the Right to Education Act (RTE).
RTE Act
Asked about how schools were coping with the RTE Act that was implemented this academic year, Dr. Seshadri said: “There is openness in educational institutions to embrace the spirit of the RTE Act. Sensitise schools in inclusivity. The concept had already started with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).”
About reports of discrimination between the students, he said it was not peculiar to children.
“It (hesitancy in accepting the underprivileged children under the 25 per cent RTE quota) is a phobic condition. It is a conditional response to biased socialisation. There is polarisation in higher education as well. Schools should propagate the spirit of egalitarianism.”
Earlier, Dr. Seshadri told the 70-odd principals about the “citizenship dimension of education”, which is education beyond literacy and numeracy.
Citizenship dimension
“Look at the citizenship dimension of education; identity formation and equipping and capacitating the growing individuals to enable them to analyse ambiguities in the society,” he said. He stressed on the importance of media literacy and art in learning.
