Immersive VR and AR Technologies for Inclusive Classrooms to Bridge Equity Gaps and Promote Social Justice

Immersive virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) is reshaping education by nurturing inclusive learning environments and promoting social justice. They provide more engaging, accessible, and represented acquisition experiences via interaction, adaptivity, and personalization, which address inequities that persist in traditional classrooms. Inclusive education and social justice including Universal Design for Learning, social constructivism and critical pedagogy are reviewed in this chapter. It presents the practical applications of VR/AR in special education, underprivileged school, and culturally diverse classes and demonstrates how it helps in supporting disabled students, closing the digital gap and helping develop cross cultural awareness. Successful cases of integrating immersive technology into inclusive education models from developed and developing countries are presented. Despite their potential, VR and AR come with their own challenges. This chapter offers policy recommendations to hike up equitable use of such technologies from the perspective of government funding, curriculum integration, teacher preparation, and data security frameworks. Future research should focus on scaling immersive learning solutions, improving artificial intelligence–driven personalization to ensure ethical implementation to maximize their social impact.