Abstract
Neither any controversy nor any confusion does now exist to at all the successful result and impact of inclusive education. After critical experiment It has proved unanimously in Bangladesh that :- inclusive education is appropriate for all including the children with disability, with law cost involvement, easy to implement, simplified and more fruitful. Many NGOs are working in the area of educational service for the children with disability. Most of them are practicing and exercising inclusive education but without co-ordination.
Though our govt. singed the Salamanca Declaration for inclusive education and the Article No. 17 of the Constitution of Bangladesh clearly says that the indifferent inclusive education system will be the education system of Bangladesh but govt does not implementing this.
Gaining from the working experience It is essentially felt the need of the requirement of formation of coalition for inclusive education in Bangladesh.
Mission is to Promote Effective Inclusive Education for all Children with Disability throughout Bangladesh.
To assist schools who are proactively committed to quality inclusive education in neighbourhood schools in developing within local resources and expertise in the area of inclusion.
Serves as a resource for administrators, educators, students, family members and others regarding effective inclusionary education in neighbourhood schools.
Education is the Fundamental birth right and most basic need for every human being. Nobody is dare to disagree that without education there is atleast any single means and media to develop the quality of human life. For survival, protection and development of human lifeliving, education and only education is the way.
So education for all is most essential for building up of a progressive and prosperous nation.
Bangladesh is a developing country in South Asian region of Asia pacific chapter.
The Government of Bangladesh attaches high priority on "Education for All". But unfortunately the issue of the education for the disabled. Still remain in neglected and uncovered.3
People with Disability are certainly the integral part of the society and community. They are entitled to get all facilities and rights mentioned in the universal convention on human rights convention and fundamental rights provided by the state according to the provision of the Bangladesh Constitution. "Education for All" is global campaign and most popular slogan which does not exclude the people with disability.
"All meaning all"
Every body will include with this word.
More over education is specially most important for person with disability to develop themselves as productive unite of the community and state.
For educating the People with Disability the conducive atmosphere and environment is necessary.
When we raise any question in demanding the education for the disabled people. The high official in policy making level avoiding us in denying that demand in such a funny way that without shame and say.
"The disabled can not be able to learn because of their disability".
When we show them the instance of successful highly educated persons with visual, speech, hearing and with other disability then they again try to say, that why you are making hue and cry. That door of education is remain open for everybody let the People with Disability come to educational institution and learn.
But the authority of education never think to create suitable position or situation for the PWD to get admission into education place and make any accessible infrastructure.
A few of PWDs are able to get education through their personal and family effort in segregated way, without any help from the authority.
In the Constitution of Bangladesh it has clearly specified in its article No 17 that the state shall adopt effective measures for the purpose of
| (a) | establishing a uniform. Mass oriented and universal system of Education and Extending free and compulsory education to all children to such stage as may be determined by law. |
| (b) | relating education to the needs of society and producing properly trained and motivated citizen to serve those needs. |
| (c) | Removing illiteracy within such time as may be determine by law. |
For implementing the above provision of the article of the constitution govt has taken so may initiative. Through this initiative the literacy rate is increasing. Now the literacy rate of Bangladesh is almost about 58%, 62%,
In Bangladesh we have more than 80,000 primary schools for elementary education. Thousands of Secondary, Higher Secondary, and many institution in tertiary level is run by govt. There are so many other type of educational institution are exist and run by govt. This year govt. has allocated 5 thousand 5 hundred core Taka in the national budget for education.
Beside these so many nongovt. organization are running Formal and Non-Formal Education Program and the number of those educational center is not less than 60,000.
But it is a matter of shame that no arrangement has been made in both govt. and nongovt. level for providing the education of PWD.
As pity, as charity the responsibility of education for the PWD is now vested with Ministry of Social Welfare. They are running 64 Integrated School for blind in which more or less 1000 Visually Impaired are getting education and in 5 govt. school other more 200 blind children are getting primary education. 9 schools for speech and hearing impaired (Deaf) are running by Ministry of Social Welfare, in which 100 children are learning.
Two segregated schools are running by Ministry of Social Welfare for Intellectually Disabled (Mentally Retarded) in which 100 children are learning.
Only the Non-government voluntary organizations working in the field of the services for the disabled are running the education program creating the conducive environment for them.
Initially these were running in special or segregated way.
The past few years these were running through integrated approach.
In early 1990's the organizers, volunteers and activists involve in this field with the help of professionals has started Inclusive Education system.
The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh in its article No-7, says that the country is owned by the people of Bangladesh, every body has the same right to protect their interest and up hold and implement the right. To make this provision of constitution meaningful state will make law. Nobody can violate the constitution and everybody has the obligatory responsibility to obey the constitution. In relation to the situation of education, govt. build educational institution and run those excluding the People with Disability. So it is clear violation of the Constitution of Bangladesh.
In addition to the Constitution of Bangladesh there are so many international, regional and global convention, charter, declaration, proclamation and regulation in which Bangladesh has signed to implement these.
In every of these international convention the stress for education of PWD is given.
mentioned the issue of Education for the PWDs.
The Govt of Bangladesh is yet to start effectively for implementing those.
The UN agencies working in Bangladesh have no special program for the Education of PWDs. The UNESCO, UNICEF, people is keeping them away from the activity of education for PWD. When the organizations and agencies working for PWD knock the door of them they use to respond in negative way. Sometimes they use to keep them silent in the issue and say, "the children with disability are children so why you are talking to give them special attention in this regard". But the component of program run by UNICEF and UNESCO have not included the appropriate task for PWD.
'Save the Children Alliance' comprising of save the children. USA,UK, Australia, Sweden, Denmark are working in Bangladesh to implement the rights of the Children. Only the "Save the Children Sweden"(Radda Barnen) has the program for Children with Disability.
Earlier there was no coordination among the NGOs working in the field of Disability. After the formation of NFOWD (National Forum of Organizations Working with the Disabled) the National level umbrella federation the coordination and cooperation is taking place among the working agencies and organization for PWDs.
Through exchange and network among the organization both in National and international level the flow of latest information creating momentum of the movement.
As advocacy organization NFOWD has formulate a National Policy for the Disabled in 1993 and being successful to approved it by the Govt. in 1995, in which the issue of education has include as very important article.
To protect the interest and implement the rights of PWDs NFOWD has formulated a law in 1996 and this law has already approved by the council of Ministers this year, 8th May and waiting for the acactment by the Parliament. In the law the issue of Education for PWD has included as vital component to be implement by the education Ministry of Bangladesh. At present Inclusive Education system is promoting and implementing by several Non-government organizations.
They have included the children without disability in the education program for the Children with Disability through creating special provision and made instance for govt. to implement.
They also has succeeded to motivate the local school authority of some schools for normal children to let the disabled children for inclusion. These organizations are running some awareness and skill development training program for inclusive education for the teacher and caregiver of the Children with Disability.
For making and the development of Inclusive Education the coalition among the organization and agencies is essentially necessary.
For:
An initiative group is working in this coalition in Bangladesh under the umbrella of NFOWD.
Inclusive Education Program: Comprehensive integrated flexible education system with arrangement for students with disability in same school as their fundamental rights to education and considered them Integral part of the society. The student with disability, on his/her own initiatives, continues education in the mainstream institutions with other non-disables. Few NGOs have started the process in their Non-formal Education Program. It is a unique system of education with flexible relaxable individualized curriculum based in the main education process as an additional means. Bangladesh Govt. is promise bound to establish this system of education in the UNESCO conference held in Salamanca Spain in 1994. It is also obligatory and compulsory responsibility of Bangladesh Govt. according to the provision of Bangladesh constitution Article-17 to initiate Inclusive Education. But unfortunately Ministry of Education has take no initiative for it.
The capacity to learn is at the heart of human development. At its most fundamental, learning is the foundation for enlightened existence and the sustenance of all livelihoods. Equal opportunities for learning are indispensable if development is truly to be broadbased and sustainable, and if the enormous future costs of exclusion from such opportunities are to be avoided.
''essential learning tools(such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem solving) and the basic learning content(such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning.'
Education today is characterized as an expression of affection for children and young people, as a welcoming gesture in acknowledgement of their rightful expectations of a beneficial societal inheritance. the views and voice of every child must be expressed, and listened to. Correspondingly, the needs of young people and adults for continued access to adaptive basic learning opportunities must also be heeded, in restless anticipation of the demands of tomorrow's livelihoods.
Policy Directions:
Children are children first and disabled later. All are children, "Education for All" which has been so far implemented by GOB has been for all children minus millions of children with disability which is against the social justice of equal education opportunity. It is therefore recommended that:
Such a large number of students can not be covered by segregated special education because (i) it is socially and psychologically undesirable to remove Children with Disabilities from their families and communities at a tender age. (ii) It is educationally unsound to place all Children with Disabilities in Special Education since they lose an opportunity to learn from the wider range of their peers, and other children lose the opportunity to learn about the potentialities of these Children with Disabilities and the support they need. (iii) All Children with Disabilities do not require education in special need education. (iv) Cost-effectiveness of the provision in developing countries like Bangladesh with several constraint of resource demands that all existing institutions (regular school, special institutions, health services) should be mobilized to provide education to all children with disabilities just like other children in the community.
Inclusion is equal access to full participation in and benefiting from a provision in all institutions including regular schools in the community. It is recommended that regular schools should be considered and developed as inclusive schools to meet the special needs of children.
Education of children with special needs arising out of disabilities is the legitimate responsibility of the education department, but it requires support of the Departments of Social Services, health and women and child. It essentially requires inter-ministerial coordination. The existing machenism of inter-sectoral coordination should be activated and program of action should be developed for education of all Children with Disabilities. Ministry of Education is to be the nodal agency with full responsibility and accountability and support from the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Role of Special Institutions in Inclusive Education.
Bangladesh has the advantage of a highly potential National Centre for Special Education and Special Education Department in the university of Dhaka. Which can be developed into a lead institution to stimulate and support activities to include Children with Disabilities in regular inclusive schools. There are special schools though mostly located in urban cities and towns. These institutions and NGOs which have considerable experience in education of Children with Disabilities should be included in the inclusive educative coalition and network. The scope and function of special Schools can be redefined to include(i) preparation of children for regular school through early childhood education programs.(ii) meeting educational needs of children with several disabilities and (iii) provide guidance and support to regular school teachers to meet special needs of Children with Disabilities, education of children with special needs is an issue of curriculum and teachers training. The stress should be on improving access of Children with Disabilities to the curriculum of regular school, instead of a separate exclusive curriculum for Children with Disabilities. The flexibility in the curriculum to allow multi-level teaching and progress should be built-in. The evaluation system should assess their progress in learning and allow different levels of learning in different curriculum areas. the curriculum should meet educational needs of all children including those with special needs all stakeholders teachers of regular and special schools, teacher, trainers, child development specialist and curriculum specialists should be involved in the exercise.
Children with Disabilities will increasingly receive education in regular schools. (i) All pre service teacher training programs should include component on special needs education to make schools effective for all children.(ii) All in-service training programs under different projects should also address the educational needs of special needs education. (iii) Special teachers training program should include core program for all disabilities to support regular schools and meeting educational needs of children with several disabilities in special schools. The training programs should also develop in teachers skills to prepare learning aids.
Early childhood education is important for all children, but for children with disability, it is essential to prepare them with special skills (daily living, communication, mobility language, etc.) to improve their potentiality.
The NGOs and the concerned departments should develop a program for this purpose establish demonstrative inclusive schools in different regions to encourage others adopt the practices in inclusive schooling.
Inclusive Education:
"Every child has a fundamental right to education and must be given the opportunity to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of learning".
"All children are educable" - but some may need special considerations. The important question is "do we adjust the child to the school or do we adjust the school to the child ?" Special education will provide the learning environment necessary to promote learning in accordance to the individual's potentials and difficulties. It is more focused on child needs than on a pre-determined curriculum and conventional methods. Alternative communication, environment based curriculum, learning-by- doing and subject integration are some of the main elements for special education.
Earlier it was mentioned that Bangladesh has adopted numerous international level policy agendas concerning disability. These include the plan of Action of the "Asian and Pacific Decade of the Disabled 1993-2002" and the objectives and guidelines of the UN resolution on the "Rights of the Disabled" as well as the proclamation on the "Full Participation and Equality of People with Disabilities in the Asia and Pacific Region" signed by the Prime Minister on August 22, 1993. The National Policy for people with disabilities was adopted on November 9, 1995 by the Government of Bangladesh. The constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh also guarantees under the articles 14 and 15 the basic rights of persons with disabilities and under the article 17 the free and compulsory education for all. The Government of Bangladesh has declared its intent to achieve "education for all" by the year 2000, including education of all children with disabilities.
Access to primary education is intrinsically important to children in general and disabled children in particular. Education empowers people with disabilities and helps them to explore opportunities in life thus ensuring that they lead a life of dignity and respect. Education of children with disabilities is immunization against poverty. Due to lack of educational opportunities people with disabilities end up leading their lives in inhuman conditions often eking out a living by begging.
Teaching Materials
One of the main reasons for lack of access to primary education is lack of customized materials. Such material needs to take into account the needs of all children including children with special needs. Curriculum, teaching strategies, materials, evaluation procedures need to be child friendly and child focussed. At present there is no such material available because of lack of policies regarding inclusion of children with disabilities in the mainstream education. For effective inclusion the following are the essential component to consider:
Important Messages for effective practice of Inclusive education :
"Inclusion involves all kinds of practices that are ultimately practices of good teaching. What good teachers do is to think thoughtfully about children and develop ways to reach all children.
"Ultimately good teaching is a relationship between two people; teachers get good results because they enter into that relationship. Inclusion is providing more options for children as ways to learn. It's structuring schools as community where all children can learn. But there's no recipe for becoming an inclusive teacher or an inclusive school. It's not a mechanized format." -- Dr. Chris Kliewer, Associate Professor of Special Education, University of Northern Iowa.
"Inclusion is based on the belief that people/adults work in inclusive communities, work with people of different races, religions, aspirations, disabilities. In the same vein, children of all ages should learn and grow in environments that resemble the environments that they will eventually work in." -- Dr. Susan Etscheidt, Professor of Special Education.
"When good inclusion is in place, the child who needs the inclusion does not stand out. The inclusive curriculum includes strong parental involvement, students making choices, and a lot of hands-on and heads-on involvement." -- Dr. Melissa Heston, Associate Professor of Education, University of Northern Iowa.
"Inclusive education means teachers working with students in a context that is suitable to a diverse population of students. It also means the teacher may need alternative expectations and goals for students, and it's difficult to get teachers to do this." -- Dr. Kathy East, Support Services Coordinator, Price Laboratory School, UNI
"Inclusive education operates from the assumption that almost all students should start in a general classroom, and then, depending on their needs, move into more restrictive environments. Research shows that inclusive education helps the development of all children in different ways. Students with specific challenges make gains in cognitive and social development and physical motor skills. They do well when the general environment is adjusted to meet their needs. Children with more typical development gain higher levels of tolerance for people with differences. They learn to make the most of whoever they're playing with. When we exclude people, it ultimately costs more than the original effort to include them." -- Dr. Melissa Heston, Associate Professor, UNI
Reviewing the above mentioned statement and discussion we can consider to accept the following statement and starting the coalition for effective Inclusion education.
Neither any controversy nor any confusion does now exist at all on getting the successful result and impact of inclusive education. After critical experiment It has proved unanimously in Bangladesh that :- inclusive education is appropriate for all including the children with disability, with low cost involvement, easy to implement, simplified and more fruitful. Many NGOs are working in the area of educational service for the children with disability. Most of them are practicing and exercising inclusive education but without coordination.
Though our govt. singed the Salamanca Declaration for inclusive education and the Article No. 17 of the Constitution of Bangladesh clearly says that the indifferent inclusive education system will be the education system of Bangladesh but govt. is not implementing this.
Gaining from the working experiences It is essentially felt the need of the requirement of formation of coalition for inclusive education in Bangladesh.
Mission is to Promote Effective Inclusive Education for all Children with Disability throughout Bangladesh
To assist schools who are proactively committed to quality inclusive education in neighborhood schools in developing within local resources and expertise in the area of inclusion.
Serves as a resource for administrators, educators, students, family members and others regarding effective inclusionary education in neighborhood schools.
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Establish a library of materials on inclusive education, including books, articles, videos and other resources. |
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establish an internet web page with access to information on inclusive education |
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Regional conference on inclusion |
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Present information in country, regional and local educational conferences. |
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