THE debate on inclusive education is especially important in Pakistan today because while the government is under pressure to legislate on inclusive education as per its international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), the state of education in general in all the provinces is abysmally poor.

Pakistan has the lowest literacy rates in South Asia. In the Human Development Index ranking of 2014 by UNDP, it falls in the low human development bracket, ranking at 146 out of 185 countries, while Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, and Maldives fall in medium HD bracket, and Sri Lanka in the high HD bracket. The report rightly points out that “when educational attainment is reduced, vulnerabilities are transmitted across generations by limiting children’s future learning and employment opportunities”.

However, the decades-old attitude of governments towards education in Pakistan does not take away the argument that children with disabilities have as much right as others without disabilities to attend mainstream schools. Despite contrary claims, only 1pc of children with disabilities are able to go to any kind of schools due to legislative, budgetary and infrastructure constraints.

Studies focusing on the perception of children with disabilities reveal that they like to study with other children but lack confidence.

To say that the existing structures of education in the country are not ‘ready’ to accommodate children with disabilities cannot be sustained in any country purporting to be civilised. It is obvious that unless there is appropriate legislation, both the public- and the private-sector schools will never be ready to accommodate these children with diverse needs at any point in time.

The concept of inclusive education is not new in Pakistan. In 1986, a National Policy for Rehabilitation of the Disabled was formulated which focused on integrated education, under which children with disabilities were to be rehabilitated through due preparation into mainstream schools.

This progressive approach was abandoned in the 1988 policy that created an exclusive and segregated system for children with special needs on the grounds that integration was not a realistic goal. Special education complexes were constructed in federal and provincial headquarters and other some districts by the federal government where children are still labelled as ‘handicapped’ or ‘mentally retarded’. In 2002, the National Policy for Special Education reiterated the idea of inclusive education, but it was again dropped from the National Action Plan of 2006.

While policymakers in Pakistan were dithering between exclusive and inclusive education systems, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was introduced in 1991, asking the state to protect the rights of children through inclusion in mainstream schools, employment, culture and recreation. Article 28 of the convention states that “…In most countries, the state provides special education facilities for disabled children. This education seeks to change the child to fit the society. Inclusive education tries to change the school to meet the needs of children with disabilities. This is the most efficient means to ensure that children with disabilities develop like children without disabilities…”

In 1994, the World Conference on Special Needs Education in Salamanca called for inclusion as the guiding principle for integration of children in society regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic or other conditions. Later, the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action passed a resolution in 2002 for an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities.

In 2007, the UNCRPD was tabled and ratified by Pakistan in 2011. According to Article 24 of the convention, “States parties recognise the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realising this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, states parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels.…” Further, they are required to ensure that “persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability.…”

The condition of special education schools under the provincial governments is pathetic. Apart from the fact that these are few in number and most children from rural areas do not have access to them, there is incredible absenteeism both by teachers and district education officers in these schools. The human resource is very poor, and there are hardly any teachers’ training programmes. In addition, there are interest groups that support the segregated system of special education as any change may render them redundant.

As argued by Peter Mittler, a renowned British educationist, inclusion should be at the heart of both education and social policy. Inclusion “involves a process of reform and restructuring of the school as a whole” to cater to the diversity of children with different conditions and abilities. Studies focusing on the perception of children with disabilities reveal that they like to study with other children but lack confidence and are afraid of being bullied.

Planners need to realise that an inclusive education system benefits children from all groups in society, not just children with disabilities, by inculcating tolerance, acceptance and appreciation of diversity. It is also less costly to transform mainstream schools to inclusive ones through additions of enabling infrastructure and teachers’ training, than to create segregated special education centres that are poorly managed, divisive and against the spirit of equality laid down in the Constitution as well as international conventions.

The state must legislate for inclusive education as soon as possible, setting a target of two years to complete the process. Only then will the public- and private-sector schools take the necessary steps to develop an integrated and inclusive education system for all.

The government will need to break down their resistance by facilitating them in developing infrastructure, resource rooms and teachers’ training programmes. There are a large number of NGOs and DPOs (representing people with disabilities) that can help in all this, including setting up assessment protocols, curriculum adaptations and evaluation procedures. A major paradigm shift in policy as well as education administration is called for, to restructure the prevalent culture, attitudes and practices that have made Pakistan the worst HDI performer in the region.

The writer is a former federal secretary.

rukhsana.hassan@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2015

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