Why inclusive education can help us achieve the Big Four Agenda

When President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Education Sector Policy for Learners and Trainees with Disabilities two weeks ago, he must have thought about how inclusion would help drive his Big Four Agenda. This is because children with disabilities remain one of the main groups being widely excluded from quality education. Disability is recognised as one of the least visible yet most potent factors in educational marginalisation.

But, education also increases children’s potential productivity and wealth creation which will in turn help to alleviate poverty in any society. One of the important exit routes from poverty is formal education, especially where it improves the quality of labour, but due to discrimination and stigmatisation, the chances to access education and employment are very restricted for people with disabilities. Thus, the disabled poor are likely to remain poor, as are their children.

That’s why the President’s plan to establish and equip 10 model education assessment and resource centres of excellence to facilitate early identification, assessment and placement or referrals for children with disabilities works well within an appropriate and positive framework.

Assistive devices

Indeed, this has been a challenge for inclusive education where the sub-sector has always suffered from inadequate qualified personnel, insufficient equipment and, assistive devices and technologies, all which have hampered early identification, assessment and placement for children with disabilities.

Granted that Kenya has about 4 million people living with disabilities out of which 2.8 million are children and youth aged below 24 in rural areas, it is important to come up with strategies to cater for this big number of young Kenyans for inclusion in state building.

And Kenya has committed to shape its society around certain values through her constitution. Recognising the disadvantage that persons with disabilities face, the law imposes an obligation on the country to take affirmative measures to ensure respect for their dignity and full participation in national life. Even from an economic perspective, it is a strategy for economic inclusivity and participation; with dividends for the economy and the society at large.

The Ministry of Education should create disability awareness programs as a means to combat prejudice and promote social inclusion. Parental support to learning at home is a factor contributing to success of any program. Thus, the programs rendering support to families should target all families within the reach of the schools, not only families of children with disabilities. The programs should widely address the responsibilities and rights of parents, and should provide practical tips on what parents could do to support their children. The programmes should respect and accommodate different lifestyles and cultures.

This collaboration with stakeholders is essential to provide access to education. Parents should be at the centre of developing inclusive education, thus they should be provided with information on inclusive education as well as real opportunities to participate in developing inclusive education.

Inspecting aspects

We must restructure the cultures, policies and practices in schools so as to respond to the diversity of students in their locality. Research findings suggest that training does not change the practice in schools unless schools and teachers are regularly and continuously supported in implementing what they have learnt. Schools need to know why they are changing their ways of working; they need support to understand the ‘what’ and the ‘how’.

The curriculum must advocate differentiation and learner-centered approaches. Approaches are powerful tools for inclusion. Additionally, there will be need to strengthen school advisory and inspection to serve as an effective means of promoting inclusive education. Advisory and inspections should include inspecting aspects of curriculum differentiation.

To make it even more effective, we should set up a hospital school in every major hospital to cater for the needs of all children who have to stay in hospital for an extended period. It will also be important to develop tools for monitoring qualitative change in teaching practices at school level to make them effective.

For a long time, Kenya has yearned for a plan of action in building on inclusive strengths and removing barriers to inclusion in education. Pockets of existing inclusive education systems need to be connected, and to network in order to share successes and challenges to creating more inclusive communities. These, together with all stakeholders need roles to play, and what is being planned looks like what we’ve been waiting for. Time for action.

Prof Mogambi, a Development communication and social change expert, teaches at the University of Nairobi: [email protected]