Inclusive and Supportive Education Congress International Special Education Conference Inclusion: Celebrating Diversity? 1st - 4th August 2005. Glasgow, Scotland

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INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN SOUTH ASIA

Dr. Abdul Hameed and Hina Fazil
Department of Special Education
University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
drhameed_pk@yahoo.com

Introduction

This regional report draws upon country studies of South Asia namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka published by UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA) in 2003. These studies focus on educational policies and practices for children with disabilities in respective countries to ascertain the pace with which each country is marching toward inclusive education. They also document some good examples of inclusive education in each country.

Children with disabilities are often silent and invisible members of many communities. They can be at risk of abuse, exploitation and neglect. Since no reliable data are available on the prevalence of children with disabilities in South Asia, their needs cannot be truly addressed in policies and programmes. These children often encounter barriers in accessing adequate and appropriate basic services such as food, shelter, health and quality education as a marginalized segment of population. The vast majority of children with disabilities never attend schools, and a large percentage of those who attend soon drop out as a result of inaccessible school physical facilities and unfriendly school environment.

There is a growing agreement among professionals and human rights organizations that inclusion is the most economical and appropriate right based approach to provide quality education to the children with special needs. It requires a paradigm shift in which service system has to be adapted to meet the needs of the child rather than selecting the most fitting children as quality input to the system. The service is brought to the child rather than moving the child to the service. It works for teachers and classrooms to adapt according to the individual needs instead of forcing the child to change.

Several initiatives have been taken by the respective governments, NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies for addressing the special needs of children with disabilities. However, a comprehensive analysis of these initiatives has not yet been undertaken. The studies summarize the regional initiatives to see the gap between “what is” and “what ought to be” with its implications for policies and practices in the region.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of this study are to:

• Assess the state of special needs children and progress toward inclusive education in each country in terms of policies, resources and practices to build a rationale for policy change.
• Highlight effective interventions and strategies in promoting inclusion of children with disabilities.
• Provide an outline for the development of a regional plan of action to help states in bringing about policy reforms, ensuring adequate resource allocations, and promoting programs that support inclusive education.

Methodology

Secondary data were used to estimate the magnitude of disability in the region heavily relying on recent population census or other official documents. The studies conducted by NGOs and INGOs were also reviewed to verify/supplement the data. Primary data, based on purposive samples, were collected for documentation of inclusive schools in the country reports. For this purpose field visits, observations, interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. The nature of data collected for documentation was predominately qualitative in nature. The analysis of the data and report writing were also qualitative.

South Asia and Children with Disability

The South Asia, with the exception of Sri Lanka, has been rated as the most illiterate region of the world as 400 million persons live in the dark of illiteracy. The adult literacy rate, which is 49%, now lags behind the Sub-Saharan Africa where literacy rate is 57%. The average public expenditure on education still remains 3.4% of GNP. Only two-third of the total number of school-age children are enrolled in schools, of these 40% drop before reaching grade 6. About 540 million people, or 45% of the population, live below poverty line with daily income of less than one US dollar. A total of 278 million people have no access to safe drinking water. The child labor force in the region is about 134 million. Illiteracy, gender disparity, poverty, child labor constitute the socio-economic context of the region. The case of children with disabilities with respect to their education as a human right cannot be understood in isolation from prevailing socio-economic conditions.

The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of the world’s population suffers from some form of disability. This amounts to 138 million (of all ages) of 1.38 billion total population of the region. Out of 138 million persons with disability 41 million (30 percent) come under the definition of children. The South Asia region presents a dismal state of education of the children with disability as the enrollment rate of school age children does not go beyond 4% as compared to about 66% for the normal peers. In other words, the marginalization of children with disability is about 96% as compared to 34% for children without disability. About 39.4 million children (24 of each 25 children) with disability are being denied access to school. This clearly shows that the children with disability are the most marginalized group among others. It is frustrating to note that fragmenting the administrative control of educational institutions into different ministries systematically marginalizes these children.

The awareness in the society in general and among parents in particular about the importance of education through inclusive schools is on increase. Parents in rural areas are now willing to pay extra fees for this purpose. However the rural areas still lack access to school. There is growing trend for opening informal education centers to deal with low enrollment of girl child. It appears that the rural govt. primary and informal schools may serve as best starting point for inclusive education in future as there are no special schools as an alternative. Moreover, the problematic institutional attitudes are non-existent and hence pose no threat. The rural community function as a “community of practice” and is very supportive and self-reliant.

The countries of South Asia Region have developed National policies and Act and there is a strong agreement on some vital points among all policies such as education, health, employment, accessibility and transportation. Regarding the issue of education of persons with disability there is a growing consensus that the persons with special needs should be included in regular education system with a flexible curriculum to facilitate the needs of children with disability. The provisions of accessible educational and vocational training to the PWDs by removing all architectural barriers from schools, colleges and other educational institutions are increasing.

Policies also support better access to health services, promote methods to prevent the incidence of disability and ask to provide aid and appliances to persons with disability. The provision of free and accessible health care and prevention of disability through prenatal, postnatal and antenatal care and pollution control are also focused. National Plan of Action and National Policies of countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka give major emphasis on the employment of PWDs, by ensures job placement, income tax relief and by fixing a quota in the employment. They promote self-employment through vocational training and rehabilitation, micro-credit schemes and other mechanism. They all stress on providing disabled- friendly transportation on rail, road and air and construction of disabled friendly and accessible public buildings.

Various models of inclusive education are being tried out in the region. The philosophy of inclusion is not widely shared even among professionals. Integrated education and inclusive education are interchangeably used. Teacher training institutes particularly those meant for ordinary schoolteachers are not sensitive to the needs of inclusive education. It will perhaps take another decade to take off for a new era of inclusive schools.

Findings

            On the basis of country reports and the reports following observations are made on the state of inclusive education in South Asia:

1. The education of children with disability is still a matter of charity and welfare rather than a right of every child.
2. The segregated system of special education is still dominant in the region.  
3. Even under the international obligations and commitments, efforts for inclusive education are confined to symbolic small projects with a limited scope. Inclusive education is not a part of national action plans for ‘Education for All’ (EFA) in most of countries of the region.
4. It would be premature to label the schools documented in the studies as good practicing models. These schools are no more than some pioneering attempts in the journey of inclusive education.
5. Although school enrolment is increasing at a fast pace, the participation rate of children with disabilities is extremely low. Children with disabilities are often marginalized as a result of negative attitudes or lack of policy. A lack of child-centered approach in the curriculum and distance from home to schools are other reasons for low enrolment.
6. Girls with disability are doubly discriminated against as being a girl and disabled.
7. There are regional disparities as well. The number of out of school children with disabilities is high as compared to normal peers in remote and conflict affected areas.
8. Poverty adds to the disability. Children from poor families and suffering from disability are the most vulnerable group to marginalization.
9. The curriculum lacks flexibility to cater for the needs of children with disabilities. There is scarcity of appropriate teachings–learning resources in native languages for children with disabilities for inclusion. The schools lack assistive devices for children with disabilities. Teachers lack training and experience in teaching and handling children with disabilities. The classroom environment is intimidating and there is no room for student’s participation in the teaching learning process.
10. There are separate ministries and their policies for children with disabilities and without disabilities. This approach is becoming a stumbling block in implementing inclusive education. Any meaningful inclusive education can only take place with an inclusion in decision making at ministerial level.
11. A conceptual clarity on inclusive education is yet to be developed among decision makers. There are several definitions of inclusive education primarily presented to justify a status quo.
12. A large number of children in each classroom posses a substantial threat to inclusion. The overburdened teachers are reluctant and perhaps unable to take any additional load.
13. Financial limitations and a social milieu that keeps education a low priority are invisible barriers to inclusive education.
14. Different disabilities require different type of supports. The number of skilled and trained personnel for supporting inclusive practices is not adequate to meet the emerging needs of inclusive education.
15. It is encouraging that the attitudes of the society, including parents of children with and without disabilities, are generally in favor of inclusive education.

Recommendations

            On the basis of above findings following recommendations are made under three different headings; for immediate action, for short term planning and for long term planning.

A. For immediate action

• Orientation programs through consultations, seminars and workshops should be arranged for capacity building of policy-makers and education department officials, both at the federal and provincial levels. A regional meeting of the ministers of education can be very helpful to initiate inclusive education in the region.
•  There is a need to improve the coordination between of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Special Education with the ultimate aim of shifting the responsibility of education regarding children with disabilities and other marginalized groups to the Ministry of Education. The education policy should be reformulated to make each ordinary school open and welcoming for the children with disability. Such policy should also be protected by legislation.
• International donor agencies should make inclusive education a first priority for funding. The financial and technical support to segregated special education must be withdrawn gradually.
• The print and electronic media should be supported to play their role to develop proactive attitudes of the community toward inclusive education.
• Inclusive education advocacy groups should be formed at national and regional levels. These groups should establish networking at local, national and regional levels for sharing information and experiences.

 B. For short term planning

• The pre-service and in-service training of general education teachers should be restructured for inclusive education. This will enable the teachers to act as change agents.
•  Providing financial support to parents having girls with disabilities can eliminate the gender disparity.
• The disparity between urban and rural areas should be minimized by creating opportunities for inclusive education in remote and conflict affected areas.
• Poverty should not become an unbearable burden for the family having children with disability. Such family should be financially supported similar to the combat effort already being used to eliminate child labor.
•  Adaptation of curriculum, instruction and evaluation procedures is central to the process of inclusion. It requires higher level of competence not available at all places. The countries o the region should, therefore, pool their resources to develop this expertise to the extent that curriculum adaptation can be undertaken in a meaningful way.
  Responsibility: Respective ministries of education
• Effort should be made to launch training courses for supporting staff such as speech therapist, physio-therapist, audiologist, mobility and Braille instructor, etc. at least at national level. Foreign consultants should be invited to provide professional support for this purpose.
• There should be greater coordination among donors, government and NGOs so that resources can be pooled and shared at all levels. This will lead to better teaching learning environment for quality education, particularly for children with disabilities.

C. For long term planning

• The private sector has taken a head start in promoting and implementing inclusive education. There is a need to support these efforts by providing grants from the government and international donor agencies.
• Issues related to disability should be included in the school curriculum so that negative attitudes towards people with disabilities can be mitigated.
• The preparation of children through early childhood intervention/ pre-school education is extremely important. This will reduce drop out rate and need for special services in inclusive settings.
• Comprehensive and regular surveys must be undertaken to collect reliable data on children with disabilities. The instrument for data collection should be prepared in consultation with the specialists on disability. The survey staff should also be trained to collect reliable and authentic data.
• In-depth research should be undertaken regularly to investigate the constraints and difficulties faced in implementing inclusive education in the region.
• People with disabilities and organizations for disabled people need to be involved in policy, planning and implementation processes at every level.
• Initiatives should be taken to develop functional screening skills at the school level, and to provide assessment facilities for easy identification. National and regional resource centres should be established to provide support and services to schools.
• Accessibility to school should be improved by making minor modifications to the physical structure of schools (buildings ramps, accessible toilets, wide doorways, more space in classrooms, etc).
• Children with mental retardation and children with multiple disabilities can be given home-school programmes as a good starting point.
• The concerned human resource development authority should take initiatives for developing a workforce related to the assessment and management of disability issues, and to the teaching of children with disabilities in regular schools.
• Public policies, supportive legislation and budgetary allocations should not be based on incidence, but on prevalence of special education needs, and take into consideration the backlog created as a result of decades of neglect.
• There should be coordination among the health units, special schools and ordinary schools. Coordination committees comprising the leaders of these techniques, and cover issues of planning, management, organization, implementation and evaluation of special education programmes.
• Community-based rehabilitation programmes should be strengthened so that support in the form of promoting access to inclusive education, introducing reforms in schools, and providing supporting materials is facilitated.

References

National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (2005). Journey Towards Promotion of Inclusive Education :A summary Report on the Research Study. New Delhi.

Takamine, Y. Disability Issues in East Asia: Reviews and Way Forward. World Bank Presentation, 2003.

Unicef. (2003 A). Examples of inclusive education: Bangladesh. Kathmandu: Unicef Regional Office for South Asia.

Unicef. (2003 B). Examples of inclusive education: India. Kathmandu: Unicef Regional Office for South Asia.

Unicef. (2003 C). Examples of inclusive education: Nepal. Kathmandu: Unicef Regional Office for South Asia.

Unicef. (2003 D). Examples of inclusive education: Pakistan. Kathmandu: Unicef Regional Office for South Asia.

Unicef. (2003 E). Examples of inclusive education: Sri Lanka. Kathmandu: Unicef Regional Office for South Asia.

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