In the last few months, a group of educators and policy makers, with the support of UNICEF, have been working at creating a policy that would change the way Ghana’s marginalised children: children with disabilities, ethnic minorities, the ultra-poor are perceived, served and included in the education system.
This is the inclusive education policy and it states that:
‘Inclusive schools must recognise and respond to the diverse needs of their students, accommodating both different styles and rates of learning and ensuring quality education for all through appropriate curricula, organisational arrangements, teaching strategies, resource use and in partnerships with their communities.’
The policy requires schools to recognise that all children can learn, that all children have a right to learn and that different children learn differently. And because children have different ways of the learning, then the schools and the education system must make sure that they have the physical environment to learn (big print books, sign language for example) as well as the social, emotional and psychological environment to learn (so that they feel welcomed into the school, have friends, are treated with respect, are believed in and valued by their fellow students, teachers, head teachers and the community).
The policy aims to change systems, create mechanisms, equip schools and in the process change community perceptions of what children with disabilities in the first instance and all children in due course can learn, achieve and contribute to their communities and the Ghanaian society as a whole. It is the result of a series of consultations with many government and non-governmental stakeholders.
Why do we need such a policy
Nearly 500,000 children aged between 6-14years are out of school in Ghana. Approximately 100,000 children have a disability and more than 16,000 of these children are out of school (Census 2010).
For too long, the education system has served those who fit readily into it, deeming those who cannot as unable to be educated or at least unable to be educated with everyone else. It has excluded those who do not fit in easily into the set structure and either set them apart in special schools or ignored them altogether.
A sense of conviction
The policy makers are determined to bring forth a policy that will make a difference where it counts in the lives of children, communities and in Ghana’s education system.
Hence, the policy is accompanied by an implementation plan that sets out who will do what and by when, as well as year-by-year targets and indicators to measure progress.
Who has to be included…
The policy seeks to cover all children who are marginalised whether because of a disability or poverty or because they speak a different language or because they are girls (and not boys).
The initial focus will be on the inclusion of children with disabilities but the policy is very clear on the fact that inclusion covers the whole diversity of children in Ghana.
…and by whom?
Policies alone cannot change anything. We need to examine our own beliefs and behaviour. We are all guilty of excluding children for a variety of reasons and what needs to change is also our own ideas, particularly about children with disabilities. And ‘our’ means all of us, parents, teachers, community leaders, government officials, all of the wider Ghanaian society.
The problem is, when we tell children ‘you are disabled, you can’t learn,’ they come to believe it of themselves and then they can’t learn, not because they are not able to but because they have been told they are unable to. Inclusive education is everyone’s responsibility.
What can you do to push the policy forward?
Exclusion takes a number of forms. ‘There is no place in our school’ is one form, not letting our children play with children with disabilities is another. Tolerating teasing and bullying is a third. Feeling ashamed and confused and lost is another. Not keeping an open mind is another. We all indulge in such behaviour at some time or the other.
We need to change ourselves first and then those around us. If we put our efforts together: community members, teachers, church leaders, traditional leaders, government officials, then we can change these ideas and ensure that every Ghanaian child is welcomed, loved, educated and enabled to contribute to the wider Ghanaian society. We will all be richer for having diverse talent and skills and abilities to help build a better Ghana.
Will you take up the challenge and give all children in Ghana a brighter future?
The writer is Chief of Education Section, UNICEF
