Early life
Alur was born and raised in Kolkata. She did her higher education in Delhi in Miranda House. She acquired a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Delhi in 1963. In 1965, she married Ranjit Chib. A year laterMedia
Alur's writings, feature articles, opinion pieces, columns and research paper for books, have appeared in many national and international newspapers, magazines, portals etc. including The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Statesman etc. She has also regularly appeared on different news channels specifically NDTV advocating the right of people with disabilities.Current work
For the last ten years, Alur has been involved with inclusive education and implementing Education for All (EFA) for all children who are not within the purview of mainstream education. She has been working in the slums of Mumbai and has recently finished a longitudinal research with UNICEF where she has created an Education For All model for 'all' children who are disadvantaged including the girl child, the disabled child and children in poverty, demonstrating that inclusive education can happen anywhere including the poorest places. This has been based on work in the Dharavi slums of Mumbai covering a population of 30,000, working with 6,000 families and with community teachers who were trained to teach 'all' children. Today over 3,000 children have been put into municipal schools. Fourteen nurseries have been specially set up for all children within this population, both with and without disabilities. Models for intervention strategies at the family and community levels have been designed. Alur, along with husband Sathi Alur, is also currently involved in the Shiksha Sankalp project, an action based research project under the aegis of ADAPT and co-funded by BMZ ( Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), Germany and CBM ( Christian Blind Mission) that aims to "formulate a protocol or blueprint for screening children out of school—especially the disabled ones—and to create a database which would help the (Indian) government to formulate curriculum according to the special needs". Alur started the Mithu Alur Foundation intending to create an inclusive village model in Maharashtra. The foundation aims to do so with schools, hospitals, medical services and livelihood through skills training programmes, women's empowerment, etc. She has been a vocal activist against the exclusion of people with disabilities and has written articles, books and papers propagating inclusion in society. Talking about the exclusion of children of disabilities under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act RTE Act from schools, she said: Alur has advocated inclusive education under the news provisions in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act RTE Act, stating that it will help every single kid, even those kids who are not seen to have any disability. Alur has been extensively quoted in books, articles and news reports for TV. She also lectured in many institutes across the world.Awards and honours
* In 1989 the Government of India awarded her with the Padma Shri Award * In 2006 was presented the Paul Harris Fellow Award by Rotary International, USA.Indian Volunteer AwardsPublished books
* ''Education and Children with Special needs – from segregation to integration'', with Seamus Hegarty, Published by Sage Publications, new Delhi, 2002. * ''Invisible Children – A Study of Policy Exclusion'', Viva Books Private Limited, New Delhi, 2003. * ''Inclusive Education – The Proceedings of North South Dialogue I'' (with Professor Tony Booth). * ''Inclusive Education – From Rhetoric to Reality, The North South Dialogue II'' with Dr. Michael Bach. * ''The Journey for Inclusive Education in the Indian Sub-Continent'', with Michael Back Published by Routledge, New York, USA, 2009. * ''Inclusive Education Across Cultures: Crossing Boundaries, Sharing Ideas,'' co-edited with Vianne Timmons, Published by Sage, 2009.References
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