This policy analysis investigates how factors such as history and country-specific contexts influence understandings of equity and inclusion. India is rich in its diversity of languages and its size. Within India, there are historical and global policies on inclusive education that are enacted to varying degrees. This paper provides an historical review of inclusive education policies in India and finds that there have been many years of effort expended toward providing policy guidelines for equity and inclusion. There are, in addition, global policies that have had an influence. These policies are analyzed using theoretical frameworks of inclusion that provide a lens through which equity policies and actions can be viewed. In this paper, Banks’ five dimensions of multicultural education help to analyze decades of inclusive education policy approaches. India’s diversity helps to explain why educators would have nuanced understandings of equity and inclusion. A review of the literature shows that, despite these significant challenges, schools in India are moving toward a universal education system that includes every child.

Published in: Canada International Conference on Education, 2018

• Date of Conference: 25-28 June, 2018
• DOI: 10.2053/CICE.2018.0031
• Electronic ISBN: 978-1-908320-90-2
• Conference Location: University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada