Schooling the Urban Poor : Engaging with Teachers

Teachers working in schools run by city corporations in mega cities like Bengaluru primarily cater for children living in slums, which have the highest concentrations of poverty, socially disadvantaged groups, and children of migrant workers. Teachers are neither professionally prepared nor given support to meet the needs of these children, who are educationally at risk. While the systemic issues afflicting the education of the urban poor require critical attention, research in the sector highlights the importance of inclusive pedagogic practices in classrooms. This paper examines the possibilities and challenges of changing pedagogic practices to be more inclusive in the context of a professional development programme for teachers that was adopted over a period of three years at four schools run by Bengaluru City Corporation.