“As we set about building a new South Africa, one of our highest priorities must be our children. The vision of a new society that guides us should already be manifest in the steps we take to address the wrong done to our youth and to prepare for their future. Our actions and policies, and the institutions we create, should be eloquent with care, respect and love.”
(Address at the launch of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Pretoria, 8 May 1995)
As a nation we have crafted education policies eloquent with care, love and respect. Most notable of these is Education White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education (2001). An inclusive education and training system:
- Places the child at the centre
- Recognises that all children can learn and need support
- Accepts and respects differences in learners, whether due to age, gender, ethnicity, language, class, disability or HIV status
- Enables education structures, systems and learning methodologies, curricula and environment to meet the needs of all learners
- Changes attitudes, behaviours, teaching methodologies, curricula and environment to meet the needs of all learners
- Empowers learners by developing their individual strengths and enabling them to participate critically in the process of learning
- Maximises participation and reduces BARRIERS to learning
‘Fourteen years on, we’ve seen very little progress towards inclusive education in South Africa. This failure to deliver is an unacceptable and extremely serious violation of the rights of hundreds of thousands of children and has serious, and too often tragic, consequences on their lives. The Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) 2015 Report on the Implementation of Education White Paper 6 on inclusive education: Overview for the Period 2013-2015 (the Progress Report), confirms this. The report demonstrates that in spite of small progress in certain areas, overall, education for children with disabilities and with other barriers to learning has not improved over the past fourteen years. The children worst affected, remain those who are black, poor or working class and/or living in rural areas’ (Campaign R2ECWD, 2016). Drastic measures are needed to improve our national report card for education, which currently reflects that 600 000 with disabilities are out of school; over 60% of learners drop out before matric and only 40% of learners in Grade 3 are able to read with understanding.
We urge the Department of Basic Education to demonstrate, by their ACTIONS, a commitment to ‘care, respect and love’ for our children. We commend schools and districts, who, despite limited resources, development and support, and remote locations, continue to strive to develop all their learners to their full potential. They demonstrate a belief in the youth of this country, eloquently expressed by former President Mandela:
“Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our national wealth, those who care for and protect our people.”
(Nelson Mandela, Address at the dedication of Qunu and Nkalade schools, Qunu, 3 June 1995)