We often say that a child is a form of God, full of innocence, empathy, and love. As a child in school, I never felt it. I was bullied, beaten, and abused by my teachers multiple times. I never felt safe or included in the class. As I grew up, I built hatred for them and never wanted to treat any child as I was treated.

Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, emphasised that safety and belonging are foundational for individuals to achieve their full potential. For children, inclusion ensures that they feel safe, respected, and valued, creating an environment where they can thrive emotionally and intellectually.

As a parent or teacher, we should often ask ourselves: "Are we able to create a safe space and an inclusive environment for our children?"

During my Teach For India fellowship, I worked in a government school in Delhi. As a teacher, I always tried to keep my promise of treating my students better, and giving them every opportunity.

Teach For India has an intense 6- to 8-week training program for fellows before they enter any classroom. TFI teaches fellows different strategies and pedagogical methods. Among them was Learning Level Grouping—or “bucketing”—a strategy used to track students’ learning easily and meet their needs.

I found this an easy way. I divided my students into three groups based on RC level, and math mastery. I never spoke to my students about the bucketing, but they figured it out when I started taking extra classes for specific groups, and assigned different volunteers to them.

One day, I asked students from one bucket to stay back for an extra class. A student came to me and said, “Bhaiya, aren’t they those weak students?”

I never wanted my students to feel or say something like that — or to operate only through the lens of academic excellence. I believe in individuality, and want my students to embrace their unique strengths, express themselves authentically, and grow into confident individuals who contribute meaningfully to the world.

I had no answer for him; I couldn’t say anything. I saw every fellow bucketing or labelling their students, some using “high rigour, mid rigour, and low rigour,” others saying “green bucket, yellow bucket, and red bucket.” I was doing the same, but I noticed that students in the lower buckets could not express themselves fully. There was academic dominance.

I took small steps, appreciating students for trying, giving them tokens, and taking them to picnics. It helped, but didn’t work with everyone.

Pawan (name changed), a student in my class with 36.7% math mastery, was amazing when it came to geometry. I was surprised to see his responses, accurate and fast, while Aditya (name changed), with 53.3% math mastery, found it difficult. When Aditya saw Pawan solving problems so easily, he approached me for help. I encouraged him to take help from Pawan, but he refused. Aditya had a fixed perception that Pawan couldn’t solve math problems.

Zahid (name changed), a student with a beautiful smile and a curious mind, would always attempt MCQs in exams but avoided descriptive answers due to a lack of confidence. He was afraid of being judged.

There were so many problems like this. They seemed small, but had deep-rooted causes, and catering to them individually was a difficult task. These are common in classrooms, and teachers often find them hard to tackle. The most important thing to understand is that they are different problems — requiring different solutions.

One strategy or technique can’t help us build an inclusive classroom.

First, we have to understand the context of our classroom and the needs of our students — in other words, we have to understand our children. I did this with the help of a few volunteers. I made individual trackers for academic data, learning behaviour, socio-emotional learning, and communication skills. (I also added or removed trackers after mastery was achieved.)

We can also follow Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by providing students with multiple ways of learning, as per their needs. I also practised flexible grouping, not based only on academic performance, but on interests, learning style, and cognitive skills.

Let every student ask questions, it shapes them, builds them, and teaches them to listen. Another important step that helped me shape my class was involving students in decision-making. They felt more responsible and began to care for each other.

After a year, I saw massive changes. Aditya began operating with a growth mindset and happily went to Pawan to learn geometry. That year in the mid-term exams, Zahid didn’t pass, but he attempted not only MCQs, he also wrote some descriptive answers, and they were amazing.

I don’t know what a “successful” classroom looks like to you, but for me, it’s a place where every Pawan, Aditya, and Zahid feel included and know they belong.

[Aaqib Naseem is a Teach For India Alum. Views expressed are their own.]