Belonging at School: Stories that Matter

On 27th December, 2025 (Saturday)  at 6 PM IST, Enable Education conducted a moderated dialogue titled “Belonging at school : Stories that matter”  focusing on inclusion in educational environments, with particular emphasis on accessibility, peer inclusion, and the role of teachers and institutional culture. The conversation was moderated and introduced by Ms. Aarushi, Founder of Enable Education, she brought together lived experiences of students with disabilities to explore how inclusive practices operate in classrooms and beyond, moving beyond policy into everyday action.

The objective of the dialogue was to understand inclusion as a lived reality rather than a theoretical construct, examining how accessibility, peer relationships, and educator practices intersect to create meaningful participation and belonging within educational spaces.

The discussion was structured around three broad themes: how education fosters inclusion through accessibility, the role of peers in enabling meaningful inclusion, and the role of teachers, school leadership, friends and institutional culture in sustaining inclusion. The conversation featured Raghav Aggarwal and Pratik Shingare, both of whom shared personal educational journeys within inclusive and semi-inclusive schooling environments.

Raghav Aggarwal shared that inclusion, in his experience, was most meaningfully expressed through small, consistent acts rather than grand or performative gestures. He reflected on how peers supported him during his school years through everyday actions such as helping retrieve books, adjusting plans to accommodate mobility needs, and ensuring that he was naturally included in group activities. These actions were not framed as special accommodations but developed organically through friendship, familiarity, and shared routines.

Both speakers noted that in early childhood, inclusion is less dependent on vocabulary and more on proximity, time spent together, and shared experiences. While younger students may lack language around disability, empathy and understanding develop through sustained interaction and familiarity. Raghav further reflected that access to inclusive education was significantly shaped by infrastructure.

Pratik Shingare shared a defining experience from sixth grade when a teacher appointed him as class monitor - the first student with a disability to hold that role in the school. Despite concerns raised by others regarding logistical challenges, the teacher prioritized trust and responsibility over perceived limitations.

Both speakers emphasized that inclusion must extend beyond academics into non-classroom spaces such as sports, cultural programs, lunch breaks, assemblies, and school events. Raghav also highlighted the importance of universal design, noting that accessibility features benefit not only students with disabilities but also teachers, elderly staff, and visitors.

The conversation also extended beyond schools to include social inclusion for adolescents and young adults. Pratik, despite being only 14 years old, shared his ongoing work on improving accessibility in public leisure spaces such as cafés, cinemas, and restaurants across multiple Indian states.

Samarth Pathak from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) joined the dialogue and emphasized that inclusion is fundamentally a mindset issue. He reiterated UNODC’s commitment to working with Enable Education to translate lived experiences into actionable frameworks for school leadership and policymakers.

In conclusion the dialogue reaffirmed that meaningful inclusion is not performative. It is built through consistent practice, institutional culture, and belief in student potential. Schools that succeed in inclusion do so not through isolated policies or training sessions, but by embedding inclusion into everyday functioning.

The session concluded with the shared hope that more educational institutions adopt this holistic approach, ensuring that students with disabilities are not merely present, but fully included, respected and empowered.