Namibia makes a commitment to inclusive education

From New Era in Namibia:

WINDHOEK, Namibia – “The Ministry of Education as evident in the ministerial policies, strategic plans and other documentation has embraced and supports the concept of Inclusive Education.”

With these words the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Becky Ndjozo-Ojo, Jan. 26 launched an educational project known as Edulink.

Representatives from Finland, Kenya and Zambia attended the launch in the capital.

“The ministry has ratified and continues to support a number of legislation in support of inclusion through projects such as Education for All (EFA), the Education and Training Sector Improvement Program [ETSIP], Education Sector Policy on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and a Draft National Policy on Inclusive Education – clear examples that the Ministry of Education is committed to inclusion,” Ndjoze-Ojo said.

In her view the ministry is guided by the commitment that every child matters and that every child has an enshrined constitutional right to education. “The principles of access, equity, quality, democracy, and lifelong learning are the pillars of a comprehensive education reform process and underline an inclusive education system,” she said.

In this regard she cited the following:A national policy on Inclusive Education has been drafted and regional consultation is under way before the finalization and adoption of the policy. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) was revised to include all data collection on various disabilities, orphans and vulnerable children, while Namibian sign language has been added as another home language and medium of instruction in the Annual Census Form. EMIS of 2007 has reported the number of learners with specific disabilities receiving education in the mainstream school for the first time. Through this system, almost 28 000 learners with mild to severe disabilities were recorded. This puts the ministry in a better position to plan and budget for these learners.

The National Institute for Education Development (NIED) is charged with curriculum development. NIED has appointed an inclusive education officer in an effort to meet the needs of all learners including those with special needs, thus ensuring that the curriculum development applies an inclusive approach and that compensatory and learning support materials are being developed for the purpose of assisting teachers in this regard. All these efforts are aimed at minimizing the failure, repetition and school leaving rates.

The Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA) developed national professional standards for teachers in Namibia. Key competence areas were identified one of
which is the Facilitation of Learning. This explicitly underlines Inclusive Education practices such as: identifying learners with special needs; adapting and accessing learning resources and activities, and providing advocacy and support for learners with special needs.

Teachers are trained in basic counselling skills to offer psychological support to children in need. The University of Namibia (UNAM) offers education-training programmes that include modules on Inclusive Education. UNAM has established a Disability Unit to cater for the academic and social needs of students with disabilities. UNAM has been involved in organizing and running national workshops on Inclusive Education and contributing to research in this area. The colleges of education also offer modules on special education.

The Directorate of National Examination and Assessment (DNEA) has ensured that special accommodation and various arrangements are in place to make the national examinations and qualifications accessible to candidates with hearing and visual impairment. The ministry, by means of a subsidy, covers 50% of the examination fees of needy candidates making the national school examinations and qualifications more accessible to disadvantaged learners. Almost 3000 needy learners were exempted from paying examination fees in the previous financial year.

Learners with visual impairment have been included successfully for over 10 years and these learners have gone on to graduate from teacher training colleges in Namibia and Zambia, as well as from the University of Namibia.

The Directorate of Programmes and Quality Assurance (PQA) has also initiated a pilot phase for the inclusion of deaf Grade 11 learners in mainstream schools. A Communication Centre on Deaf Studies is to be constructed in 2009/2010 to conduct research, to promote Namibian sign language and its linguistics, to provide training services for interpreters, deaf instructors and deaf educators in general. The Namibian sign language was certified as a Junior Secondary Certificate subject and was written as an examination subject for the first time in the history of Namibia at the end of 2008 by the Grade 10 learners.

The Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (VET) offers skills development opportunities to out-of-school youths at various centres and makes
provision for inclusion of learners with special needs in their training courses, thus creating options for learners who may not be able to follow the academic stream. The Directorate of Adult Education includes blind adults in their national literacy programmes. These are appreciated efforts but the ministry would want to have a more in-depth teacher training programme on Inclusive Education for all teacher training levels.

“Despite these accomplishments there are several important challenges which prevent those learners with special needs to achieve their full potential and which contribute to their educational and social exclusion,” she said.

Ndjoze-Ojo further said: “Namibia has achieved high enrolment rates in schools, including children with disabilities in special schools. However, the system needs to expand with construction of needed facilities and most importantly in moving towards implementation of Inclusive Education.”

She mentioned the following aspects that should be addressed: – Provision of improved teacher training and classroom support;– A realistic teacher-learner ratio;– Improved classroom technology to support inclusive learning; and, – More
accessible physical school environments and the entire reform of the education system.

It is often and rightly said that the Ministry of Education has existing barriers leading to social and education exclusion and that the ministry is the highest recipient of the national budget. Ironically, it often omitted that the ministry is also the biggest employer of the public sector employing close to 70% of what the government employs. The government being the biggest employer.

Therefore, the fact remains that most of its budget allocation goes into salaries, leaving little for programme implementation. All current reform in the Ministry of Education (curriculum development, programmes implementation, examination and assessment, monitoring and evaluation) should address Inclusive Education. There is a dire need to allocate specific and separate funds to all activities linked to realizing the concept of Inclusive Education to help remove existing barriers.

Negative attitudes, stigmatisation and ignorance at both school and in society at large. (A non-receptive attitude towards those with disabilities is evident in some schools. Even when these learners are accommodated the much-needed individual attention is often not given to them and as a result they are eventually pushed out of the system).

Lack of teachers’ pre-service and in-service training on Inclusive Education is an impediment. (Both the colleges of education and the University of Namibia should take up the challenge to prepare teachers more thoroughly for inclusive education. This training should focus on both theoretical and practical dimensions).

Because education is a partnership between government, the public sector, the businesses, the private sector, the parents and the learners each and everyone should be involved.Parental involvement in the education of their children, especially those with special needs, is currently minimal. The Ministry of Education should seek solutions to this concern since parents are primary educators and are seen as partners in education.

The impact of HIV and AIDS and other societal ills have led to an increase of orphans and vulnerable children and thereby learners with special needs. The education sector’s policies on HIV and AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children, the Education Development Fund (EDF), the National Feeding Scheme at schools are all measures taken by the ministry to address some of these challenges. Travelling long distances between home and school remains a challenge and continues to contribute to exclusion. We need monetary partnerships in all these endeavours and the contribution of the private sector is the key.

Blind and deaf people have barriers with regard to communication and there is thus a need to convert all official communication into Braille. In addition to this, interpreters for the deaf are scarce, thus, there is a great need to train professional interpreters to be used at school and public level.

“I am reliably informed that the long term aim of the Edulink project that is being launched today is to improve the school attendance and achievement of pupils in primary education in Namibia, Zambia and Kenya, and to uplift the level of education of the people in these countries. The project will contribute towards improving the skills of educationists working within primary education (teachers, special education teachers and psychologists), to detect and tackle learning disabilities amongst pupils in these countries,” she concluded.