Floyd Morris | Need for inclusive education and social transformation

“Every child can learn, and every child must learn” is the mantra for the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information. Long before the term inclusive education became the clarion call of the world, Jamaica has been engaged with the practice. Dating back to the 1960s, a few persons with disabilities were attending regular high schools and universities.

It is therefore unsurprising to see the slogan of the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information embracing the capacity of all children to learn. This embrace, in principle, includes persons with disabilities, although we are yet to see a total transformation of the education system to include all persons with disabilities. In this article, I will elucidate on the concept of inclusive education, what it entails for learners with disabilities and how it aids in the transformation of the Jamaican society.

Inclusive education, according to UNESCO, is a philosophy of education in which all learners participate in the same education space on an equal basis. The system of education means that a person with a disability is required to attend and participate in regular education institutions, alongside those individuals without a disability. A classical example of an inclusive education space in the context of Jamaica is the Hope Valley Experimental School.

In an inclusive education system, there are certain features that must be at play. There must be trained professionals to relate with persons with disabilities; the educational institutions must be physically accessible to persons with disabilities; there must be assistive technologies to allow for easy interaction with persons with disabilities and those without a disability in the institutions; there must be the provision of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities and support staff to assist teachers to interact with children with disabilities. Once these measures are in place, a person with a disability should be able to navigate the education space with relative ease.

JOYFUL EXPERIENCE

These features are present, from my most recent visit, at the Hope Valley Experimental School. The principal of the institution as consistently testified of the joyful experience in seeing how students without disabilities, care for and support students with disabilities. Indeed, this is one of the fundamental aims of an inclusive education system, to ensure that there is a social transformation which will see greater interaction and understanding between persons with disabilities and individuals without disabilities.

Professor John Golding, father of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Mark Golding, was the lead advocate and implementer of the Hope Valley Experimental School. Undoubtedly, he would be extremely pleased with the progress and attitude of alumnus such as Julian Robinson, and Mikael Phillips. As a person with a disability in the politics, I have nothing but positive experiences and attitudes from these parliamentarians who sat and participated in the same education space with students with disabilities at the Hope Valley Experimental School.

Notwithstanding the successes of the Hope Valley Experimental School, the institution has remained what it is; an experimental institution for over fifty years. Successive administrations in Jamaica have failed to replicate this institution across the country so that persons with disabilities can attend and participate in education institutions in their communities.

A 2011 study conducted by the Centre for Disability Studies (CDS) at The University of the West Indies (UWI) revealed that only 23 per cent of education institutions were accessible to persons with disabilities. After this study, I have tabled and debated a motion in the Senate, calling for schools to be made accessible for children with disabilities and for Labour Day 2018 to be the catalyst for this process. The motion was accepted and the Government used Labour Day 2018 to inaugurate the process of expanding ramps in schools across the island.

NOT GOING TO CUT IT

I have asked questions in the Senate about the state of access to schools in Jamaica after this project and it was disclosed that approximately 30 per cent of schools were accessible. This level of access is not going to cut it if Jamaica is to meet its national and international commitments for the establishment of inclusive education.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) of which Jamaica is a signatory, requires that the country moves towards the implementation of inclusive education, and this was reiterated in the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the CRPD, for Jamaica in 2022. Additionally, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which Jamaica is committed, requires that countries establish inclusive education by 2030. Most importantly, the Disabilities Act 2014 requires that education and training institutions provide education for persons with disabilities.

An inclusive education system is one of the best means of jettisoning the stereotypical images of persons with disabilities in Jamaica. Negative attitudes about persons with disabilities in Jamaica are still pervasive and including persons with disabilities, to sit in the same education space as those without disabilities, will undoubtedly demonstrate that persons with disabilities can function efficaciously as their colleagues without a disability.

For the next couple of years, I will be devoting my time to ensure that the education system becomes more inclusive of persons with disabilities, with the requisite support mechanisms. I am a product of inclusive education and will be relentless in my pursuit for its national implementation. I urge the Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dana Morris Dixon, to visit the Hope Valley Experimental School, and after her visit, make sure that every parish have a similar institution as this transformational education space.

Professor Senator Floyd Morris is the director of the UWI Mona Centre for Disability Studies. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com