Published Paper Details:

Inclusive education has been viewed as an approach to make educational provisions for children with disabilities rather than as education for all. From past 28 years, since the Salamanca World Conference on Special Needs Education (UNESCO, 1994), various policies have been devised and implemented at international and national levels to endorse the idea of education for all, but there is still a long way to go. In India, disabilities have been frowned upon at societal level and the situation for cognitive disabilities is even worse due to myths and taboos surrounding it. In this paper, economic as well as social aspects of need of inclusive education with reference to Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG-4) will be discussed. International and national policies pertaining to inclusive education and apparent loopholes in its implementation in India due to vast diversity in terms of degree and type of cognitive disability, and socio-economic as well as cultural factors. Learning from the different countries which have comparatively more successful formulation and implementation of inclusive education policies, the authors will suggest the way forward.