Inclusive education policy in Ghana-Addressing the varied learning needs of learners
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has launched the Inclusive Education (IE) Policy which defines the strategic path of the government for the education of all children with special educational needs.
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In the foreword of the Inclusive Education Policy document, the Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, stated that “the Inclusive Education Policy defines the strategic path of the government for the education of all children with special educational needs. This builds upon sections in the 1992 Constitution, the National Development Agenda, the Education Strategic Plan and International Commitments to achieve national, as well as international goals for creating an environment for addressing the diverse educational needs of Ghanaians.” This explains why education in Ghana is a right and not a privilege for all citizens.
This is confirmed in the government’s pronouncements in the 1992 Constitution. Article 25 (1) states that all persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities and facilities, with a view of achieving the full realisation of that right: basic education shall be free, compulsory and available to all. According to Article 27 (3), women shall be guaranteed equal rights to training without any impediments from any person.
Similarly, the objective of Act 778 enacted in 2008, is to provide for the establishment of an educational system intended to produce well-balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, aptitudes and attitudes.
This throws more light on why schools in Ghana and the world at large accommodate all children regardless of their physical, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions (the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education, paragraph 3).
For the purposes of this policy, inclusion is defined in its broadest sense as ensuring access and learning for all children, especially those disadvantaged from linguistic, ethnic, gender, geographic or religious minority, from an economically impoverished background, as well as children with special needs, including those who are challenged in any form.
The IE policy locates inclusion as a part of the wider reform of the education system, that aims to create learning environments that are responsive to all learners’ needs and conducive to successful educational outcomes, and ultimately to a more equitable society. It goes beyond the education system to the communities in which learners live to ensure that they are welcomed, nurtured and given the opportunity to thrive to their optimum capacities and capabilities.
It is worth establishing that the principle of IE was adopted at the Salamanca World Conference on special education hosted by Spain from 7th to 10th June, 1994 and was reaffirmed at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2000. Since then, IE has become a much wider concept, as well as a human rights standard and framework that embraces inclusion and education for all.
In the same vein, the Ghana Disability Law (Act 715 section 17) states that “the Minister of Education shall by Legislative Instrument designate schools or institutions in each region which shall provide the necessary facilities and equipment that will enable persons with disability to fully benefit from the school or institution”. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (Article 24) also emphasises the need for education for all persons with disabilities.
Guiding principles
The policy is based on a number of underlying principles which hold that every child has the right to quality education; thus all children should have equal opportunity to access education, all children can learn and benefit from education and no child should be excluded from or discriminated against on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, age, class or social group, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic origin, poverty, disability, birth or any other status.
The rest are that all aspects of education, including methods, assessment, school culture and environments, present opportunities for promoting inclusion, that individual differences among learners are a source of richness and diversity, and not a problem and that regular schools with an inclusive orientation are the most effective means of combating discrimination, building an inclusive society and achieving education for all among others.
Inclusive Education Policy
In 2015, the Government of Ghana completed the development of an IE Policy together with the Inclusive Education Monitoring Tool (IEMT), Implementation Plan and the Standards/Guidelines.
Policy objectives/goal
The IE policy is guided by four objectives; to improve and adapt education and related systems and structures to ensure the inclusion of all learners particularly learners with special educational needs, promote a universal design to Learning (UDL), learner friendly school environment for enhancing the quality of education for all learners, promote the development of a well-informed and trained human resource cadre for the quality delivery of IE across Ghana and ensure sustainability of IE implementation.
The overarching goal of the IE policy is to redefine and recast the delivery and management of educational services to respond to the diverse needs of all learners within the framework of Universal Design for Learning and Child Friendly School Concept
Policy implementation
The implementation of the IE policy shall be the responsibility of the MoE and its agencies, notably the GES. In the light of this, the ministry will collaborate with relevant sector ministries, departments and agencies as well as non-state actors such as the UNICEF, STAR-Ghana, Inclusion Ghana, Ghana Blind Union and World Education/as contributors to the final outcome of the policy.
Under no circumstance should a person with special educational needs be denied admission into a public and private institution. Learners with special needs should receive equitable treatment. The classroom environments should be well organised, equipped with age-appropriate furniture, well illuminated and ventilated. School authorities should follow the Universal Design Principle.
Curriculum/professional development
The national curriculum throughout the educational system shall be relevant and take into account the learner’s cultural background, family/community resources, values, interests, future goals and opportunities, as well as systematically building their knowledge and skills to prepare them for life in the 21st century.
Professional development, for the purposes of this policy, is defined as covering teacher training (both pre-service and in-service), continuous professional development for teachers, as well as orientation, modular courses for other education personnel such: as head teachers, school support staff and related administrators at district and regional levels.
Funding of IE
The Government of Ghana is the primary financier of IE. However, all stakeholders are encouraged to support in diverse ways for the successful implementation and sustainability of IE in Ghana. There shall be cost sharing among the various responsible government departments, agencies and partners, as well as local NGOs, CSOs, FBOs, philanthropists and the private sector.
Policy review
To bring policy priorities in line with current trends, this policy document will be reviewed every five years by the MoE notably on the expiration of various strategic frameworks and plans that will be developed for its implementation. The Ministry shall also have responsibility of coordination, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessment.
According to the Director of the Special Education Division, Mr Anthony Boateng, at the end of 2011, his outfit had implemented IE on a pilot basis in 529 schools in 34 districts in the Central, Greater Accra and Eastern regions, while UNICEF had also in June 2012 added 14 more schools to the piloted list.
It is envisaged that all stakeholders (state and non-state actors) will see the implementation of the IE policy as a collective responsibility to ensure its sustainability and the provision of quality education fairly and equitably to all as a right.
The writer is the Head of Public Relations of the Ministry of Education and a social commentator ([email protected])