8. Education for persons with disabilities
8.1 Special Education
The Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) that was approved by Parliament on the 7th of April 1994, is the major Policy document that provide structured provisions for special education in Botswana. The RNPE captured a list of recommendations made by the commission, which when implemented over time would improve access, equity and quality of education provided to learners with disabilities. The recommendations are as follows:
To ensure that all citizens of Botswana including those with special needs have equality
of educational opportunities.
To prepare children with special educational needs for special integration by integrating
them as far as possible with their peers in ordinary schools.
To ensure a comprehensive assessment that is based on the child`s learning needs, and
not on group norms, and which is followed by individualized instruction.
to promote the early identification and intervention which will ensure the maximum
success of the rehabilitation process.
To ensure the support and active participation of the children’s parents and community
through an education and information campaign.
The Ministry of Education makes urgent and effective efforts to identify the true
numbers and categories of disabled children of school age who need special
education.
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government Lands and Housing
should cooperate fully in these efforts.
The proposed School Health Programme is set up as soon as possible and that its remit
should include the early identification, treatment and referral of children with disabilities
to the Central Resource Centre.
The Central Resource Centre should be strengthened so that it can further assess cases
referred to it by the School Health Programme, by parents, teachers, or the school
Intervention Teams.
The Central Resource Centre (CRC) should be responsible for establishing and
maintaining a register of disabled children. Because of the large number involved and the
lack of staff at the CRC, the diagnoses of other professionals in the field should be
accepted until the staff establishment of the CRC has been increased
The Government should develop standards for the construction of all educational
buildings to make them to make them accessible to disabled persons.
Existing Primary and Community Junior Secondary (CJSS) must be modified (e.g by
installing ramps) to allow access for disabled pupils. However, in order to reduce costs,
where two or three schools serve one community only one of them need be so modified,
thus, reducing the percentage of schools needing modification to 60% for primary and
90% for CJSS.
Disabled children should receive effective treatment, technical aids and prostheses free
of charge immediately following assessment.
transport is provided by the Government to take children who are registered as
disabled to and from school.
At least one senior experienced teacher in each school should be appointed to be
responsible for children with disabilities in each school. This teacher should ideally be a
member of the School Intervention Team and should organise special remedial tuition for
children with specific learning needs. In time, these posts should be filled by trained
special education teachers.
More special education units should be built onto existing schools, and as part of all
new schools, at the rate of one per school with a maximum capacity of 20, with boarding
facilities in selected cases. Provision should be made for specialization e.g blind or deaf
at a few selected schools. In determining the need to construct special education units as part of the development of new schools, consideration should be given to the existence of units in neighbouring schools to take account of economies of scale.
The education of the most severely disabled children should continue to be managed by the non-governmental organizations as they have the necessary experience and expertise.
Early childhood basic training for disabled 2–5-year-olds should also continue to be
managed by non-governmental organizations as they already have the experience and expertise.
Those non-governmental organizations which care for the severely disabled children
and those which provide early childhood basic training for the disabled should be
encouraged to expand by Government assistance with:
i) payment of staff salaries
ii) a per capita allowance for pupils and staff
iii) costs of training for their staff, with NGOs deciding their own training needs.
This non-exhaustive list of recommendations provided a blueprint for introduction and expansion of special education in the public education system. It is imperative for disability rights advocates to have a comprehensive understanding of policy goals and principles to fully monitor government efforts when it comes to equalizing opportunities for learners with disabilities to attain education. Several recommendations from the list have been successfully implemented, and this include increasing the number of special education units across the country and training of teachers in special education. The government is also funding NGO’s providing education to learners with extensive supports needs and those who need specialised institutions such as those providing education to the deaf learners and those who are blind and partially sighted.
However more still needs to be done in-terms of resourcing the special education units, opening more units across the country, and implementing the inclusive education policy of 2011.
8.2 Inclusive Education in Botswana
Botswana government introduced Inclusive Education Policy in 2011, with the overall goal being to achieve an inclusive education system which provides children, young people and adults with access to relevant, high quality education, which enables them to learn effectively, whatever their gender, age, life circumstances, health, disability, stage of development, capacity to learn or socio-economic circumstances.
The Inclusive education has five goals which have been expanded through ten commitment statements which are listed below:
Commitment Statement 1 - Action will be taken to include children of school age who have never been enrolled in school.
Commitment Statement 2 - Action will be taken to decrease the number of children of school age who drop out before completing their basic education.
Commitment Statement 3 - Action will be taken to change the education of children who are attending school, but not benefitting from what is currently provided, including children who are at significant risk of failing to complete their basic education or of failing to succeed in maximising their potential.
Commitment Statement 4 - Action will be taken to improve the skills development and vocational training for young people and adults for whom the current system of vocational training is unsuitable.
Commitment Statement 5 - Action will be taken to ensure that teachers will be more effective in enabling children to learn.
Commitment Statement 6 - Action will be taken to improve schools’ access to a wide range of good quality teaching aides and learning resources, appropriate to the number of children being taught and to the specific needs of children with disabilities.
Commitment Statement 7 - Children, young people and adults who have never been to school or not completed their basic education will be encouraged to do so.
Commitment Statement 8 - Children, particularly those with special educational needs, will be encouraged and supported to attend school and benefit from their attendance.
Commitment Statement 9 - Actions will be taken to ensure that schools are supportive and humane establishments which embrace and support all their learners and value their achievements.
Commitment Statement 10 - Mechanisms will be put in place to harmonise relevant planning, policymaking, development and delivery of services so that the Government of Botswana can deliver an inclusive education service that meets national requirements and is in line with international best practices.
Through the Inclusive Education Policy, Botswana government was being intentional in pursuing its commitments to ten-year basic education and making sure that no one falls through the cracks. The policy provisions are comprehensive to protect learners coming from disadvantaged backgrounds to miss of opportunities for getting education. It is intentional in bring back those who may have quit school for different reasons, in promoting the education for learners with disabilities by making school environments more accessible and providing assistive technologies needed for learning.
Inclusive Education policy is another policy document that provides guidance to educationists and human rights defenders on what to expect from government and provides pointers for monitoring the of quality education provided for all learners, including special provisions for learners with disabilities.
