The Importance Of Inclusive Education

Inclusive education is a sign of our times. It is a way a stating that everyone counts, nobody is less important than another, everyone needs to be exposed to the same education process, and everyone should be treated with the same amount of dignity. In many circles, it is restricted to issues of disability or special need, but its broadest interpretation includes a much wider range of issues that should, or at least could be considered in the classroom setting.

According to Lebeer (2006), Inclusive Education started as a worldwide movement in the 1960s. In the same article, (p1) he states that 12 years after the UNESCO Salamanca Conference of 1994, there is much disagreement about what should be done in schools to become inclusive. For example,
Many would object to this statement. The term disability is no longer in use in some circles, and it is considered discriminatory. The detractors would say: ‘We talk now in terms of people who are physically, and or mentally challenged’. In fact some would not even want us to utter words such as ‘those with Special Educational Needs’. The Canadian nation seems to be at the most modern end of this spectrum of definition – that is if we were to rely on the information that is available for review on the internet. The Government of New Brunswick receieved accolades from UNESCO in 2014 because of their policy on Inclusive Education (Inclusive Education, 2009): “Inclusive education is a pairing of philosophy and pedagogical practices that allow
219-228). Their conclusion was that teachers feel “unprepared and fearful to work with learners with disabilities in regular classes”, apparently because it was likely to lower the academic standards of the classes being taught. A further study, published recently (Mukhopadhyay 2014, p. 33 – 42) indicates that although most of the teachers were positive towards the concept of inclusive education they did not have a favourable attitude towards the inclusion of learners with special educational needs in their classrooms due to the lack of essential knowledge and skills in inclusive education. The Revised National Policy on Education (Government of Botswana, 1994) talks of Access and Equity to Education
- another reference that might be interpreted as making education Inclusive. MOESD has introduced the Education Support Services Department, responsible for Inclusive Education (MOESD, Draft Report,