INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Inclusive education & education in South Africa



Inclusive education & education in South Africa

Introduction

For over forty years South Africans were governed under apartheid rule, “separate development of the races” (D'Amato, 2006, p59) segregating all aspects of society according to race. The white, minority population controlled governmental power and enjoyed economic prosperity at the expense of 80% of the (black) population. Black South Africans suffered from established oppression resulting in extreme poverty, joblessness, poor health care and medical facilities, under funded schools, and limited access to education. Government sponsored free education for white, coloured (mixed race), and Indian South Africans, while a fee was imposed on black (indigenous) South Africans (Gwall-Ogisi, Nkabinde, & Rodriguez, 2008, p72).

Marginalized groups within the black community suffered even more greatly. Individuals with disabilities, especially black individuals with disabilities, were victims of discrimination against their race and physical and/or cognitive limitations. For example, the segregated black communities were frequently located beyond easy access to health and social services, requiring alternate transportation. Public transportation was not accessible for individuals with physical disabilities, and taxis often refused to pick up individuals with disabilities or charged more.

As a result, black individuals with disabilities did not receive appropriate medical attention (Cock, 2009, p4). In 1994 the apartheid rule of South Africa crumbled and the black majority assumed democratic leadership of the country. The new government developed a Constitution of the Republic of South Africa with a Bill of Rights in 1996, “that entrenches the rights of all South Africans, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, culture or language, to basic education and access to educational institutions” (Engelbrecht, 2006, p. 254). From the outset the government instituted an education policy designed to promote and extend an inclusive community. With the formal development of inclusive policy after the fall of the apartheid, naturally such policy included equal rights for people with disabilities.

Yet, inclusive trends related to disability began well before the end of apartheid. The exclusionary apartheid government developed committees and initiated research devoted to the rights of individuals with disabilities, specifically related to special needs education. An advocacy organization of individuals with disabilities, Disabled People of South Africa (DPSA), formed at least ten years before the break up of apartheid. Interestingly, similar developments relating to the rights of people with disabilities appear around the globe. However, South Africa's unique; formally segregated society creates an exceptional struggle for inclusion that goes beyond disability.

The disability rights movement of South Africa follows a distinctive and documented timeline tracing the global and homegrown influences. While the achievements of the movement must be highlighted as influential in the struggle for special education services for all, it is difficult to make a cause-effect relationship between the two because of the focus on adult services of the disability movement. During apartheid rule, the South African government addressed the needs of students with disabilities as they did education for the general population: providing free and compulsory, segregated education for white students and requiring black ...