Let’s Prioritize Inclusive Education in All Levels of Education in South Sudan

By Ustaz Garang Ayii Riak, Juba, South Sudan

Tuesday, July 06, 2021 (PW) — Inclusive Education Program (IEP) should be prioritized and promoted in South Sudan because there are many people (learners) with disabilities due to the long and continuous civil wars in the country. The nation has been experiencing a lot of the civil wars and communal conflicts since 1955 up to date simply because of political struggles and this made South Sudan to be number one in term of people and children with disabilities. Before, I go further, allow me to define the word inclusive education (IE); Inclusive Education refers to a system that has adapted itself to accommodate every child, regardless of their ‘shape, language, disability, gender, social or health status etc. In other words, IE is also defined as an educational process which provides all learners with dynamic active participation and enjoyable learning. To move on, IE is about supporting all learners, educators, and the system so that a full range of learning needs can be met.

To add on, it is a human rights issue, and its principles are non-discrimination, participation, and celebration of diversity. Furthermore, Inclusive education is schooling for the massive populations of children within a mainstream system, where all children including those with disabilities are given equal opportunity and support to learn together in the same classroom. This mean education should be for everyone regardless his or her physical, mental, or emotional aspect. This means that it stresses the inclusion of all learners, regardless of their conditions. Furthermore, Inclusive classroom, this is also defined as an educational setting in which students with and without disabilities receives education together in the same classroom. In addition, Inclusive Education is an approach in which learners with disabilities and special needs, regardless of age and disabilities are provided with appropriate education within regular schools.

Therefore, children with disabilities have a fundamental right to be educated just like any other children in the nation, as it is stipulated in many international laws and National legal frames. Some of these tools include the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006) and the General Education Act, 2012 among others. The National Disability Act (2012) emphasizes the need to increase access, enhance retention, and improve quality and relevance of education to all. It also stresses on strengthening early identification and assessment to ensure equal opportunities in provision of education. This is in line with South Sudan Vision 2030, in particular, the social pillar that envisions attainment of globally competitive quality education for all children including those with disabilities by the year 2030.

The Constitution of South Sudan (2011) provides a firm foundation for policy and legislation on disabilities in accordance with the universal standards for the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights and freedom for persons with disabilities. Article 30 (1): Provides for free and compulsory basic education to persons with disabilities or special needs participation in society and the enjoyment of rights and freedoms set out in the Constitution, especially access to public services, suitable education, and employment. (2) Provides the rights to the elderly and persons with disabilities or special needs shall have the right to the respect of their dignity. They shall be provided with the necessary care and medical services as shall be regulated by laws and they should be provided with free and compulsory basic education for all and promotion of quality and relevant education.

They should also have equal rights and standard education. As it is also stipulated in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 that requires member states to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. Likewise, South Sudan should adopt inclusive education because it is the country that has several persons with disabilities according to World Health Organization. The WHO said that 250,000 persons with disabilities live only in IDP camps in South Sudan and more than 1.7 people with disabilities live in the countrywide said Al Jazeera Newspapers, 2017.

Sudan Population and Housing Census, 2008/2009 said that there are at least 5.1% of South Sudanese of all ages live with one or more disabilities and hence making it a development concern. Some of the disabilities include difficulty in seeing, hearing, speech, moving and learning. Nine out of ten children with disabilities are out of school and eighty percent of all children with disabilities live in villages or rural areas. They are always excluded from education and society due to physical, emotional, mental, or speech challenges. In addition, they are also excluded in all aspect of education system in terms of teaching and learning materials, policy, curriculum, human resources, and classroom settings because when the classrooms are designed the policymakers don’t even consider the movement of learners with disabilities, classrooms are made in the sense of making all learners to climbing up which is always a challenge to people with disabilities.

Due to the great number of people with disabilities in the country, government and the national and international NGOs have tried to come up with supportive programs for people with disabilities in some schools through an inclusive education. Despite having this inclusive education in the country, with supports from the international organisation such as UNICEF and different NGOs such as Light of the World, there is not enough studies that are done to evaluate the parental care and the attitudes and perspectives of teachers, the primary policy implementers in the country that promote inclusive education. Teachers and parental supports are critical in promotion of inclusive education because they determine the rate of policy success and failure in the country, but lack of policy makers and parental supports make the implementation of an inclusive education weak. The lack of information on teachers’ attitude and policy-makers’ evaluation difficult and hard to improve the quality of inclusive education.

Promotion of an inclusive education should be based on the quality of education processes especially the nature of classrooms, teaching and learning materials (TLMs, quality of the teachers and policy makers employed in the sector, as well as the availability of well-trained disabled female and male teachers who can teach in inclusive education classes to be role models for the learners with disabilities. The number of disabled students in South Sudan is increasing and policies of inclusive education are supposed to be formulated and put into implementation. However, there is tendencies of negative attitudes of inclusive education and public negatives toward learners with disabilities’ learning and people sees disabled learners as people that have nothing to contribute to the society.

Therefore, the government of South Sudan should actively work hard to ensure that every child, irrespective of gender, economic situations of their families and disability is supported to meaningfully participate and learn alongside his or her peers in a conducive learning environment and to develop to his or her full potential. The MoGEI should views IE as encompassing participatory and child-centered teaching approaches that ensure that each learner is supported to learn and fully benefit from the educational experiences despite his or her ability and other characteristics. Using the inclusive model of training, all teachers in the teaching profession should be trained on inclusion and inclusive teaching approaches. The goal should ensure that teachers are well equipped with the IE approaches and practices so that disadvantaged children who are already in school and out of schools are enrolled and remained in schools so that they complete all the compulsory levels of education such as nursery, primary and secondary education as well as tertiary education level.

To do this, there are a lot of benefits of implementing Inclusive Education Program in South Sudan and some of the benefits are as stipulated below. We should remove the barriers facing the children with disabilities in the country by equipping all relevant stakeholders with knowledge and skills to enable them train and advise teachers on the appropriate ways of implementing the IE programs. It is also about helping teachers to support all learners, including those with different types of disabilities, marginalized girls, and those from ultra-poor households. It acknowledges that all children can learn, and it respects the differences in children based on age, gender, ethnicity, economic status, language, and disabilities. Besides that, it enables the disadvantaged and persons with disabilities to develop their potential, contribute to society and be enriched by their difference and not devalued as a result. Inclusive education offers learners and their family with practical skills and knowledge needed to breakout the circle of poverty in which they may be trapped.

Furthermore, inclusion enables children with disabilities and other vulnerable groups to stay with their families and attend regular schools within their communities without sending the children to an institution which is against their rights. All learners in schools gain when teachers adapt the curricula to make it inclusive. Teachers also become more skillful when they take on the challenge of making their classrooms and schools more inclusive. It increases a sense of teamwork and partnership as their circles of inclusion are created. For example, teachers are not the sole players in making inclusive education a reality. Other key players are medical teams, therapists, counsellors, social workers, parents, and other community members. It promotes change of negative attitudes and brings about acceptance of people with disabilities.

It promotes the inclusion of learner diversity in all matters affecting their lives and those of local communities. It enables education structures, systems, and methodologies to meet the needs of all children. It helps to restructure the culture, policies, and practices in schools to respond to the diverse learning needs of learners.  It promotes access and equitable education standards and outcomes for all learners. It provides all learners with enhanced opportunities to learn from each other (peer to peer learning). It encourages friendships between learners with diverse learning abilities (social interaction). It teaches learners to understand and accept individual differences (acceptance). It involves learners with different learning abilities in age appropriate, academic, and extracurricular activities such as, dances, games etc. It is part of a wider strategy to promote an inclusive society and motivates teachers to provide more differentiated approaches that can help people/ children with disabilities.

The below are key recommendations to learners with disabilities and special needs in education.

• There is need to develop and implement a policy on inclusive education to enhance access, retention, and transition of children with disabilities and special needs in education.  
• There is need to disaggregate capitation for children with disabilities in schools with regard to the type and severity of disabilities.
• Review the curriculum to ensure that it adequately meets the needs of learners with disabilities and special needs in education.
• Ensure adequate adaptations in curriculum evaluation for learners with disabilities according to individual needs.
• Enhance staff trained in special needs education in assessment centers and schools to facilitate quality service delivery.
• Focus more attention on advocacy and grassroots mobilization on children with disabilities and special needs in education by sensitizing parents and guardians to take up a more active role in education of their children.
• International NGO and the government should make a deliberate effort is made to link parents and relevant community structures to referral institutions for each deprived and excluded child identified by the concerned authorities.
• Government should strengthen school systems to support inclusive education program and promote conducive inclusive learning environments in schools.
• Both government and the education partners should facilitate the provision of emotional and psychosocial protection to deprived children in the learning environment. This will recognize that all children need emotional and psychosocial care and support.
• Government should emphasize the importance of meeting the needs and fulfilling the rights of deprived children, resilience building and making schools and communities safe for deprived children in order for them to continue with education and perform well in class so that they should complete all the compulsory levels of education.
• Research should be carried out to identify the disadvantaged children to know the real data of people or children with disability so that it can helps in planning their assistive devices and individual learning program.
• The government should promote a healthy community mobilization and capacity building campaign for behavioral change towards upholding the rights of children currently excluded from education system and sending these children to schools that are operational in the adjacent areas to limit the risk of traveling a long-distanced school from homes and back from school to home.
• Government needs to plan inclusive policy and laws to ensure comprehensive implementations of the inclusive education.

Conclusion

Integration and involvement are key ingredients for increasing student retention and promoting

success of an Inclusive Education Program in South Sudan. The type of classroom climate we seek to create and the teaching techniques we use can produce an environment that either supports or impedes our diverse students. Inclusive education responding to special needs will thus have positive returns for all pupils. All children and young people of the world, with their individual strengths and weaknesses, with their hopes and expectations, have the right to education.

There is an urgent need for inclusive culture and atmosphere in schools and society, but not exclusion. The importance of inclusive education cannot be stated enough; Children with disabilities can grow up to be productive, happy, fully functioning members of society. Or they can slip fall behind and slip through the pops. Inclusion is essential for forming lasting relationships, experiences, and development of their cognitive and social skills. The SDG 4 stated clearly that no child is allowed to fail. States are individually held accountable for the student’s scores and proficiency. Having accredited and well-trained teachers are imperial for the success of children with disabilities.

Learners with disabilities do not learn the same, so teachers should be trained in Inclusive pedagogy so that they should implement inclusive education in the country. Having standard based in inclusive education will guide the learners and offer supports and services they need to employ their life journey successfully. Having knowledgeable, well trained, and accredited teachers are imperial for the success of learners with disabilities. Cross teamwork among schools and the community can help learners meet and exceed their expectations. Inclusive education should be prioritized into all schools so that no child should be left behind in learning processes.

The Author, Ustaz John Garang Ayii Riak, holds a master’s degree in a Comparative Education from Zhejiang Normal University, China and bachelor’s degree of Arts with Education, Bugema University, Uganda and has many certificates in educational leaderships and management as well as Certificates in Teaching profession and Education in Emergencies. He works as a Lecturer at the College of Education, Dr. John Garang Memorial University of Science and Technology and he is also Inclusive Education Specialist. He has also worked with different organizations and did many research and wrote many articles on education. Can be reach at: johngayii2014@gmail.com

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