Board exam results a tribute to this Amritsar school’s inclusive education programme

Making inclusive education a part of its DNA has paid off richly for the Springdale Senior School in Amritsar. This year the entire batch of eight students with disabilities have successfully cleared the CBSE Class 10 board exam.

It’s a proud moment for Springdale Senior School in Amritsar, which is marking the ninth year of adopting an inclusive education programme. This year all the eight students with disabilities have successfully cleared the CBSE Class 10 board exam. The highest marks went to a student with dyslexia who scored 88%.

Springdale Senior School has children with varying disabilities – intellectual, hearing, physical and vision. Integration and inclusion are actively practised and encouraged with non-disabled students participating in buddy programmes and scribe volunteer programmes.

One on one support offered

M*’s daughter is among the eight students who took the exam this year. She has a 70% vision impairment. “She scored 82% in the Class 10 board exam and this is due to the support given by the school and teachers. They changed her classes depending on her needs, even giving her one on one support when required. The faculty is very focused on enabling the students with disabilities”.

School Principal Rajiv Kumar Sharma says the results are the outcome of nine years of dedicated efforts.

I am very happy and satisfied with the outcome because it is the result of the effort put in by many people involved in the inclusive education programme. This year all eight students with disabilities have passed which is encouraging. In previous years we had good results but not all students had cleared the exams. Our internal assessment criteria are student friendly but passing the board exams is an altogether different challenge and an achievement. – Rajiv Kumar Sharma, Principal, Springdale Senior School

Springdale Senior School started its inclusive education programme in 2012.

“The programme started with my son who has cerebral palsy”, says Prerna Khanna, who is a Special Educator here. Prerna’s son wanted to study in a mainstream school like his older brother. “In 2012, none of the mainstream schools were willing to take a child with disability. This opened my eyes and I made it a mission to look for a mainstream school that would take him in”.

Larger inclusion encouraged in school

Prerna and other likeminded parents of children with disabilities formed an association and approached Springdale Senior School.

“My older son was already studying there, and the principal was open to the idea of starting an inclusive education programme”, says Prerna. The school did not have a special educator and she volunteered her services, having acquired the necessary qualifications to teach her son. “This way I could also be around him and ensure he had proper support”, explains Prerna.

It is this personalised touch that parents appreciate the most about the school. H* says her daughter received a lot of encouragement. A slow learner, she scored 59% in her Class 10 board exams. “I would have been happy if she had passed. These results were because of her work and the support given in school. Prerna helped her a lot by motivating her and encouraging the other teachers to give her the support she needed”.

Springdale Senior School’s story is special not because of just the academic success. It also shows that an inclusive education programme not only enables a child with disability but helps build larger inclusion in society.

*Names withheld upon request

Watch in Sign Language

Also Read:

• Empowering parents & changing public attitudes – Meet the team behind SOCH-Autism Society of Punjab