The right to education for all has been recognised globally due to decades of advocacy by many agencies. For a parent of a differently abled child, their wish list would be for inclusive education, which is to place their child in a mainstream classroom alongside their peers of the same age.

As stated in the Special Education Regulation 2013 under the Malaysian Education Act 1996, inclusive education is an education programme for students with special educational needs (SEN), whereby they can attend the same classroom together with other students.

The aim of an inclusive education environment is to ensure that all students are treated fairly and get equal opportunities, which would then lead to the celebration of diversity and uniqueness of the students.

There is much research conducted both locally and internationally that establishes the importance and the need for inclusive education.

Having said that, if we take a closer look at the Malaysian education setting, despite having the “Zero Reject Policy” – an initiative by the Malaysian government to ensure that the educational needs of the special needs children are met; till date, inclusive education has not been adopted as the mainstream educational practice.

This means the decision to provide support for students with disabilities within mainstream classrooms is still largely dependent on school leadership and teachers. This does not just deter widespread inclusive practice, but it also leads to inconsistency in the quality of inclusive education provided in mainstream classrooms in Malaysia.

Examination-oriented

Being in teacher training in the past decade, I believe many stakeholders would relate that our Malaysian inclusive education is not as inclusive as it should be. Now, for better or worse, as we all know, the Malaysian education system is one that is examination-oriented, meaning there is a set curriculum to follow and syllabus to complete. Therefore, in an inclusive classroom, we should have enough and adequate supply of teaching materials – materials that cater to both groups of learners. However, this is not the case. Schools often have insufficient supply of teaching materials for special needs children who are often segregated from their normal developing peers in the same classroom due to various reasons.

One of the most discussed reasons for the lack of inclusion is the lack of trained special needs teachers. Much research as well as many practitioners echo that teacher trainees or newly graduated teachers do not possess adequate understanding of the needs and ways to help special needs students. A common sentiment is that the teachers should be well-versed on the differentiated curriculum so that they can tend to the needs and different abilities of the children in their care.

Speaking to a teacher who works with special needs students in her classes, what intrigued me was her confession on how her take on inclusive education has changed over time. From an advocate of inclusive education, she now firmly believes that inclusive education is only in papers so far but has not transpired in reality. She goes on to add that depending on the type of disability, some of the students struggle with the examination-based education system and that different disabilities need different support in the classroom, be it academic or non-academic.

Therefore, it is not just unfair to both the normally developing children as well as the children with special needs in the same setting, but also to the teacher who is expected to cater to such a diverse range of learners and their needs.

Now, parents are well aware of the nature of Malaysian education and schooling system, yet they choose to enrol their differently abled child in mainstream education. Why is that so? Many parents are just in search of a setting that builds a positive and conducive learning environment for the children, making them feel “included”.

Education is not about examinations but instead it is an attempt to provide children with special needs a space to have equal opportunities to develop their abilities and to foster a sense of belonging within the community. This is what essentially all our children need – to learn how to celebrate uniqueness and embrace diversity.

Partnership

The implementation and quality of a successful inclusive education is essentially a good partnership between the parents and the school, namely the teacher.

Thus, teacher training institutions play a huge role in ensuring that teachers should be prepared for the reality on the ground. Many institutions have a few modules related to special needs education, which is great, but the focus is mostly academic. Many teachers only acquire the necessary skills on the job.

To address the lack of trained teachers, these institutions should step up on how they deliver the curriculum and actively collaborate, within their capacity, with relevant NGOs, SEN Parent Association and therapists from SEN centres to provide a more hands-on approach to classroom learning.

Therefore, institutions have the responsibility to ensure that these partnerships provide multi-faceted exposure to the student teachers so that when they enter the working world, they are equipped with not just passion and knowledge but also the required skills to be inclusive.

The underlying concern at hand is the expectation of what inclusive education should be. What is alarming is the difference in both the expectation and an understanding of what is the best type of inclusion for the child in question by various stakeholders. Of course, this is a dilemma that has no clear way out.

Inclusive education cannot be achieved tomorrow but efforts towards that can start. Respective stakeholders should come together and review the educational goals that each would like to achieve as this would shed light on how different stakeholders view inclusive education, thus serving as insightful information as a way forward.

Through active participation by the various stakeholders, challenges can be accordingly addressed, moving towards a successful and quality inclusive education. Until then, let’s play our role as citizens and advocates to create awareness of the need for appropriate inclusive education in Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA

Revati Ramakrishnan is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Taylor’s University. She is also the assistant secretary of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Council Malaysia and Train the Trainer (TTT) Certified Trainer. Her areas of research include special education, socio-economic status aspects and teacher training within early childhood education.