‘Inclusive education is a journey not a destination’
Motivation Guru, Leo Buscaglia once said ‘Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the small act of caring all of which have the potential to turn a life around’. Dr. Uma Tuli’s life and work through Amar Jyoti school has been to be that caring hand that has tended to and nurtured dreams of many students with disabilities. Setup in 1981, Amar Jyoti School has been doing monumental work in driving inclusion in society through a holistic approach to education, health and employment of children with disability. Not only is the school completely barrier free with accessible transportation and special furniture for children, it also boasts of speech and language lab, science lab, computer lab along with basketball courts, cricket fields, swimming pool. Children studying at Amar Jyoti besides learning their syllabus get to partake in various activities like sports, art, cultural and vocational activities. Be it pottery, jewelry design, baking or tailoring, Amar Jyoti teaches its students these and much more skills. Being in such a participative environment has simply motivated the children to win laurels for the school in sports at International and National Special Olympics or in Art and craft at International Abilympics or doing Bhangra on Wheel Chair for the Republic Day Parade in Delhi. Dr. Uma Tuli also highlights the barriers for inclusive education and how to mitigate them by involving the community, family, school, NGO’s, Media, government and corporate companies. This has been the Amar Jyoti way of building inclusive society which has won, both the school and Dr. Tuli, various awards and recognition internationally. Despite the various awards and laurels showered on Dr. Uma Tuli, she feels that putting a smile on every kids face is the biggest award she has got.
Watch Dr. Uma Tuli’s full talk here.
About India Inclusion Summit:
We are a community driven initiative that brings together thought leaders from the field of inclusion to deliberate, discuss and take forward diverse talents available in our society. We dream to inspire 10 million lives in our journey of inclusion by 2020. Join us in our journey here.
