Mandela Day was inspired by a call Nelson Mandela made, for the next generation to take on the burden of leadership in addressing the world’s social injustices when he said that “it is in your hands now”.
One of the greatest social injustices is the exclusion from meaningful participation in learning and development. This exclusion often occurs as a result of intolerance of diversity; conflict and political turmoil; poor policy implementation; lack of political will and adequate state funding; family disruption; poverty; disability; inflexible school and classroom policies, curricula and teaching styles; and dangerous school and social environments.
As an organisation we advocate for the right of all children to quality, equitable, inclusive education. One such way of doing this is by supporting ECD centres and schools to improve their ability to create safe, welcoming schools that accept and support all learners so that they are able to develop to their full potential. We hope that our models of good inclusive practice will inspire other centres and schools.
Below is one of our success stories shared by our ECD trainer, Kauthar Ebrahim:
Nicole’s Story
“Nicole is a 6 year old student at an ECD centre in the Northern suburbs. She presents like any other grade R learner and enjoys school a lot. She has many friends and adores her teacher. Nicole has diabetes which could have impacted on her access to education. The ECD centre she attends, though, is welcoming and accommodating. Her teacher checks her insulin levels every hour and her classmates are also very helpful and alert their teacher when Nicole is not doing well. As a facilitator of inclusive education, I supported her teacher to effectively help Nicole access learning to the best of her ability.
One of the biggest challenges we experienced was that Nicole’s peers were “mothering” her and, in so doing, were frustrating her progress. With some intervention and support, her teacher soon understood that the “Agh Shame” approach would not benefit Nicole. We supported the learners to step back a little bit and allow Nicole herself to say when she needed assistance. This approach underpins inclusive education: Support all learners to develop to their full potential and their highest level of independence. This approach allows for the growth and development of not only the learner, who needs support, but also those learners and teachers providing support.
Our next challenge arose when Nicole’s Mom tried to enroll her at a primary school. She reported that she was unable to secure a space for Nicole for grade 1 because of her condition. The school had told her that she would not be accepted at the school until she could manage her illness independently. Needless to say, we were very stunned at the schools response and that Nicole would not be able to access grade 1, which is her constitutional right. After consulting with my colleagues at IESA, I discovered that we are supporting a primary school in Nicole’s area in its process of becoming more inclusive. It is a full service, inclusive school. We advised her mom to contact the school and after some time she reported that Nicole has been accepted for grade 1 in the new school year.”
ECD centres and schools like these, which support diversity and are willing to accommodate learners’ needs, are instrumental in developing the youth who will indeed be capable of ‘moving South Africa forward’. Our task is to advocate for the capacity development of all teachers and the resourcing of all schools, so that the entire education system supports diversity in a truly inclusive way.
- Please note that names have been changed.