CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND THE ROLE OF THEORY
2.3 THE ADVANCEMENT OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD 14
2.3.4 Africa
2.3.4.1 Tanzania
In Tanzania, inclusive education gained popularity around 1995 and most practices of inclusion were established (Dare, Nowicki & Felimban, 2017). The education ministry, therefore, planned and implemented the National Inclusive education Strategy (NIES), which would end in 2017. The NIES facilitated the efforts, resources necessary for schools to respond to all the needs of learners and teachers (Kapinga, 2012; Mnyanyi, 2014). Although these strategies are in place, inclusive education implementation is still facing challenges. Some inhibitors could be because of the conditions of rural primary schools in Tanzania as there has been a report of disparity between urban and rural schools (Donohue & Bornman, 2014).
Rural schools in Tanzania have been noted to be plagued by issues such as large class sizes, less trained teachers, poor infrastructure, migration, and negative beliefs about disabilities are more rampant (Lindsjo, 2018; Franck & Joshi, 2017). All these issues can enervate all the efforts put in place to enable a smooth implementation of inclusive education and the wrath of these inhibitors are felt by teachers in rural schools and this makes them the most relevant people to give progressive advice.
2.3.4.2 Ethiopia
Proceeding to Ethiopia, the Ethiopian government has committed to achieving the Education for All goal, which allows for all citizens to have had adequate access to quality education by 2015 (UNESCO, 2007). UNESCO (2007) added that this movement made schools ready for special needs learners, train teachers to be inclusive and pump up the system with the necessary resources for inclusive education.
However, the conditions of rural primary schools in Ethiopia do not tally with the purposes of the inclusive education policies in place (Temesgen, 2017). This was also attested by Ludago (2020) who stated that Ethiopian education was concentrated on urban areas and side-lined rural areas. Although the quality of their national education is considered being plagued by quality issues, Trines (2018) maintains, nonetheless, most problems result from focusing more on urban areas as Ludago (2020) has indicated. Hence, rural schools have been noted to have problems such as insufficient funding and this could be a dire calamity considering the economic status of the
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country. Other challenges faced by rural schools include a lack of adequate resources and poorly trained teachers to mention a few (Dewsbury & Brame, 2019). Juxtaposing the conditions of rural schools and the other educational issues in Ethiopia, rural schools in Ethiopia are still far from being inclusive.
2.3.4.3 South Africa
South Africa is the host country of this study; therefore, much deliberation is made to unveil all aspects of inclusive education in South Africa since 1994 when South Africa became a democratic country. The government has implemented several policies in the country. Most of the policies redressed the imbalances caused by the apartheid regime and to fast-track the strife for equality (Dalton, Mckenzie & Kahonde, 2012).
The South African democratic government committed to ensuring education access for learners living with disabilities. This came with the dawn of inclusive education around the globe, and this can be seen much in Act No.108 of 1996 in the Republic of South African Constitution (Republic of South Africa, 1996). The notion of inclusive education was also backed by section 29 of the South African Bill of Rights, stating that everyone has a right to basic education including adult education if necessary and it must be reasonably accessible. It also condemns discrimination against anyone say due to their colour, gender, and disability (The Republic of South Africa, 1996).
The developments on inclusive education later led to the implementation of Education white paper 6: Building an Inclusive education and Training Systems. The focal aim of this policy (Education white paper 6) was to address the needs of all learners experiencing barriers to learning. This policy advocated for the South African education ministry to switch gears to make inclusive education a reality countrywide.
It also beamed a light on this proclamation by stating that: Everyone, young or old has the potential to learn when the necessary support is provided; if the system of education can cover a range of learning needs, this would mean progress as a democratic country (Department of Education, 2001).
Then, the South African Department of Basic Education established the national strategy [Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support (SIAS)] that was meant to monitor, guide, and enable the implementation of inclusive education policies such as the one (Education white paper 6) mentioned above (Department of Basic Education , 2014). This SIAS strategy beams a light on the procedures and processes
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to be followed when Identifying, Assessing and Enrolling learners in special schools and focussed on limiting unnecessary enrolment of children in special schools. The SIAS strategy also helps the department of education to determine the level of support required for the needs of the learner and to outline the support expected of both teachers and parents to enable the implementation of inclusive education.
The school curriculum was also reshaped by instilling guidelines to cater for the diverse needs of all learners in a classroom (Adewumi, Rembe, Shumba & Akinyemi, 2017). These guidelines were meant to provide practical supervision to teachers and school principals and to give direction on the establishing methods to cater to learners’
diverse needs. These guidelines have been recently redrafted to jumble with the curriculum changes in the curriculum (Curriculum, Assessment, Policy, Statement) and the necessary orientation for teachers, principals and other education officials in all provinces was offered (Department of Basic Education, 2015). This included the reshaping of CAPS for South African Sign Language (SASL). This has also posed an increment in the budget allocated for special education where 285 special schools have been allocated a budget of R1.6 million between 2012 and 2014 (Department of Basic Education, 2015). Also, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) went further to plan for an upgrade of 791 special schools across the country by 2015. This resulted in the provision of assistive devices amounting to R1.2 million in full-service schools.
More plans have been drafted by the DBE, which most would have been established by the end of 2019 (Department of Basic Education, 2015).
In this study, Foundation Phase learners are the most vulnerable group of learners regarding the inhibitors to implementing inclusive education as they might probably be the most difficult learners to deal with. As noted by Mahlo (2017), teaching a diverse classroom can be a very challenging and complex task. Although Mahlo (2017) is stating, yet there might be a much inclination on Foundation Phase learners.
Therefore, the next section looks at the susceptibility of Foundation Phase learners in rural areas to note the factors prompting their vulnerability.
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2.4 SUSCEPTIBILITY OF FOUNDATION PHASE LEARNERS IN RURAL