When we invited the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education to visit IESA on 29 May, we hoped that the information session, discussion and visit to two Full Service Schools would promote awareness about inclusive education and escalate the effective and co-ordinated implementation of White Paper 6 and its associated guidelines and policies.in South Africa.
Subsequently, when DBE presented its Report on the Implementation of the Strategy to monitor Curriculum Delivery and Support to Schools on 9 June, Committee members asked questions around ‘progressed learners’ and co-ordinated ‘support’. These questions drew attention to the school drop-out rate; the need for teacher development in the identification of barriers to learning and curriculum differentiation to address learner diversity; the lack of human resources such as class assistants; the registration of and resourcing for Full Service Schools; the tracking of all learners and the inconsistent implementation and monitoring of White Paper 6 across provinces.
DBE offered to report back to the Committee on the progress in the Implementation of White Paper 6 and did so on 23 June: ‘Progress Report on Inclusive Education and Special Schools’ and ‘Report on the Implementation of White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education: An Overview of the period: 2013 – 2015” The report confirms IESA’s concerns around the implementation of WP6: 597 953 learners with disabilities out of school; ‘incoherent’ understanding of IE policy at all levels of the system; inconsistent resourcing to address needs of learners across provinces; limited access to education, specialist and/or appropriate and effective support and no structured stakeholder engagement to address inclusion. These reports present a stark picture of the experience of learners, teachers and parents and should provide the impetus for a co-ordinated, well-resourced and consistent implementation of WP6 across South Africa.
