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7. Disability, education and development
Introduction
The Millennium Development Goal
(MDG) education target is that by 2015 all children will be able to enjoy
a full course of primary schooling. It is the only absolute MDG and without
the inclusion of disabled children it will be one that is impossible to
reach. The extent of the task is demonstrated by the fact that there are
over 150 million disabled children in developing countries, only 2% of
whom attend school (UNESCO estimates).
Disability KaR Programme research
on this topic has looked at issues to do with bringing disabled children
into mainstream education. This was highlighted as a key area of concern
in the Disability KaR Policy Officer's mapping report of DFID and disability
(Ref. A3) and identified as a major research
priority at the first Disability
KaR roundtable in Malawi. It was also the main theme of the third
roundtable in Cambodia. Furthermore, inclusive education is the subject
of one of the Disability KaR research reports and figures prominently
in a number of the Programme's other commissioned studies.
Before outlining some of the findings of the Disability KaR research and roundtables it is necessary to indicate what inclusive education is and why it is important for disabled people and for a human-rights-based approach to development such as that espoused by DFID.
What is inclusive education
and why it is important?
Inclusive education is an approach that seeks to meet the learning and schooling needs of everyone and does not segregate some because they might have different needs or abilities. It is based on the idea that segregated education is almost always unequal education and that schools must change in order to accommodate student diversity. Further, it is argued that this diversity fosters an enriched learning environment for all students.
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'What we
have accomplished in human rights … is the complete conceptual
switch stating that no child should be forced to adapt to education.
The principle requires compete reversal. Education should adapt
to the best interests of each child.' Dr
Katarina Tomasevski, Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education,
United Nations Commission on Human Rights, May 2004
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With respect to disability,
inclusive education was perhaps the earliest issue recognised internationally
as critical within the framework of development cooperation. One reason
is that the Education for All initiative, launched in
1990 at the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand,
was aimed at a wide range of marginalised groups, not just disabled pupils.
UNESCO has claimed that being
included within mainstream education is a basic human right, derived both
from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1949) and the UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child (1989). Being able to access this right is
also widely seen as one of the most important gateways through which to
escape poverty and exclusion, the all too common lot of so many disabled
children and their families. This in turn is why the promotion of inclusive
education is so vital for development in general and disabled people in
particular.
From being 'special' to being
included
Despite the evidence of its
success and the high-level international support for inclusive education,
the efficacy of this approach as well as the practicality of implementing
it continue to be questioned. A wide range of related issues were considered
in the Disability KaR paper A Situation
analysis and assessment of education for children with disabilities in
Bangladesh, South Asia, East Asia and South Africa (Ref.
D2).
Researchers compared the experiences of special, integrated (in which units of disabled children are on a mainstream site) and inclusive education programmes in four countries. While each system was judged to have experienced many difficulties, overall the findings confirmed what has been observed in other countries: education at special schools was more costly, focused on vocational, rather than academic subjects and tended to isolate disabled children from society and society from disabled children.
Despite the benefits of a more inclusive approach, it was not much in evidence in the four areas. Also, only in South Africa was there a comprehensive policy and action plan for educating disabled children. For example, in Bangladesh the National Education Policy (2000) does not even mention disabled children.
In South Africa, Disability
KaR research into the role and effectiveness of disability legislation
(Ref. B1) found that while there appeared
to be a high proportion of disabled children in mainstream primary education,
it was mainly because, 'There just are no other services and so disabled
children are on the whole 'dumped' into the mainstream schools whether
by their parents or the education system.'
Inclusive education: obstacles and opportunities
The Disability KaR paper cited
above (Ref. B1), offers a detailed analysis
of the many challenges faced by those wanting to introduce an inclusive
education system. These were further highlighted, together with opportunities
for inclusive education, at the third roundtable, held in Cambodia.
One of the high points of the Cambodia roundtable was a presentation from three disabled students attending mainstream schools. Participants observed that they had been extremely effective advocates for their rights and that such participation by children in workshops and conferences should be encouraged. Interestingly, all the children wanted to be teachers. In Cambodia disabled people cannot attend teacher training schools.
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Sin Srey
Neth, a blind Cambodian girl (pictured), explained her experience
of mainstream education at the third Disability KaR roundtable.
She said that she had initial difficulties. Her own and other parents
did not understand the abilities of children with disabilities,
and their children could not understand how she could read. Some
of her classmates said that if they were disabled they would commit
suicide. However, she said that she never gave up and that the children
and their parents eventually came to understand clearly about her
disability and her abilities.
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The roundtable identified a host of barriers to inclusive education such as lack of policies, funding and government commitment, and negative cultural beliefs and attitudes. However, they ended their meeting on a positive note with very clear action plans to take the inclusive education agenda forward. Among these were: developing a step-by-step framework of action for implementing inclusive education, suggestions for further research, ways to change negative attitudes in the community and good practice guidelines.
Conclusions
Education is a precious key,
for none more so than disabled people in the Developing
world, the vast majority of whom are denied it as a matter of course.
Being effectively barred from education makes it difficult to find work
and in so Doing perpetuates exclusion and poverty. This is why education
figures so Prominently on the list of important disability and development
research themes of virtually every Southern DPO (see Ref.
D1).
DFID's policy is tied to the MDGs. The Department is set to spend £1 billion on education between 2004 and 2008. One unambiguous message from the Disability KaR Programme is that to meet its commitments to achieving the MDGs within its avowed framework of human rights, disability must be robustly mainstreamed within all educational initiatives.
