The most vulnerable in society are set to benefit from new plans to include disabled learners in mainstream education, writes Julia Grey
The principle of inclusion has long been promoted by the Department of Education as the fairest approach to special-needs learners, who’ve been marginalised for decades in separate schools. But sceptics have warned of the additional demands that including disabled students in mainstream classrooms would have on already overstretched teachers.
The practical difficulties of providing resource schools for such learners – whether it’s books in Braille or ramps for wheelchairs – have also been major concerns. If the disabled are to be accommodated in mainstream schools, what is the fate of existing special schools?
Many of these questions should have been put to rest with the release last month of the white paper on special-needs education.
Speaking at the launch, Minister of Education Kader Asmal apologised for the delay in setting out a clear path, admitting it had worsened the already difficult situation of special schools. But Asmal was decidedly upbeat about the future, saying: “This world of marginalised young people now comes almost to the centre stage of our democratic order.”
One massive shift that the white paper reflects is the understanding of special-needs learners: rather than making difficulties in learning as the problem of the pupils, barriers to learning are seen as limits of the education system. Based on the idea that all learners are capable of learning, the onus will be on finding curricula and teaching approaches that overcome these barriers.This also applies to those youngsters disadvantaged by poverty: material deprivation has, for the first time, officially been recognised as an obstacle to learning.
This policy is clearly mindful of practical constraints. A 20-year time-frame is proposed, with clear objectives set out for the short term (five years), medium term (eight years) and long term.
In the short term, 30 primary schools will be converted into “full-service schools”, resourced and staffed to accommodate a full range of learning needs, with support at the district level. Those with minor disabilities will be integrated into mainstream schools, while an audit will be carried out at special schools to identify their needs.
Ultimately, the goal is to strengthen the 380 existing special schools around the country, which will continue to cater for those with severe disabilities, as well as serving as resource centres for the schools in the area. Each district is also to have one primary school designated as a “full-service school”.
Matthew Parks, parliamentary liaison officer for the Disabled People of South Africa, welcomes the white paper as a “very important and long overdue victory”. He describes South Africa as a world leader in terms of legislation to empower the disabled. But all agree that the challenges of bringing the policy to life are many. Parks points out key concerns such as adequate funding, and the need for various government departments (such as health and welfare) to co-ordinate their efforts – an exercise that could be “chaotic”, according to Parks, “because it’s such a massive bureaucracy”.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle is an invisible one: entrenched negative attitudes that many have towards disabled people. “We need a cultural shift so that people stop thinking about disability as something to be ashamed about,” says Parks. “It’s critical that we have a psychological acceptance of these children [with special needs].”
Exactly how to achieve this is, says Parks, “the million-dollar question”. But he believes there has been progress in recent years: disabled people have been voted into Parliament and other positions of authority, and the public has increasingly been conscientised about those with disabilities.
But a serious problem is “parents who actively collude to keep their [disabled] child out of school”, says Parks. It is estimated that as many as 280 000 South African children of school-going age are out of the classroom (often because of poverty, as well as physical or mental handicaps).
Changing this will depend on persuading parents that “the place for these children is not in a dark backroom but with their peers”, as Asmal puts it. Also key to getting disabled people out of their dark corners is to address all disability-rights issues in society. After all, “There’s no point in having an education if you can’t get work”, says Parks. A statistic that drives home the struggle of the disabled is that 90% fail to find employment. In light of such realities, a time-frame of two decades seems a sober recognition of the major shifts that have to happen before the disabled are really given a fair chance.
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, October 2001.