EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

Food for Thought ...

The EENET Asia Editors

Challenging our educational thinking, planning, implementing and monitoring/evaluation.

Since the birth of EENET-Asia [June 2005] as a network and regional newsletter, focusing on inclusive- and child-friendly education and therefore on education that is more responsive to the needs of all different learners. E-mail debates, also linking Asia with East-Africa, have highlighted important issues and challenges that all of us struggle with.

Up till now four different “Food for Thought” discussions have taken place, which we would like to share with our readers for their feedback and possible future participation in these debates - through e-mail or this newsletter. E-mail address: asia@eenet.org.uk.

The Food for Thought discussions may deal with practice examples, questions, statements, policies, terminology, and many other issues, brought up by individuals that participate in the network. Every participant is welcome to share his or her topics with others in the network for discussion, suggestions or advice.

Food for Thought 1:

• The EENET-Asia newsletter has received relatively many inputs on inclusive education (IE) linked to disability and special needs. This has generated questions for all of us. Is this how most of us perceive inclusive education? Should we not challenge mainstream education systems to seek out and bring all school-age children into school (and we have many out-of-school children in Asia for reasons beyond disability or special needs)? Should we not challenge mainstream education systems to acknowledge, respect and respond better to different needs and diversity in general?
• Why do special education departments and disability organizations only focus on supporting (including) children with special needs? How inclusive is that? How inclusive is our own thinking and planning if we cannot think and plan beyond our own box?
• Is “special needs” a new negative label? Even when in mainstream schools these children are still considered “special needs” children and treated differently. How useful are labels, especially for teachers, as these labels say little about how to teach these children? Such labels may also generalize too much, while, the group of children with disabilities or special needs is as diverse and different as other groups of children.

Food for thought 2:

For this round of discussions the following questions were asked:

• Should we advocate for ‘financial incentives’ for teachers and schools to be able to transform present education programmes/systems into more inclusive programmes/system?
• Should we advocate for specialized training for mainstream teachers to make inclusive education part of the regular education programme/system?
• Should inclusive mainstream schools (in development) have separate budgets from other mainstream schools?

Food for Thought 3:

• It may be difficult at times to find a balance between thinking “inclusive and rights-based” while at the same time keeping a focus on the work one can do as an organization or group of people. Thinking in terms of equal rights and universal values tends to bring up new questions all the time. We often limit ourselves to look at the problems of one group, without trying to do a wider rights-based situation analysis that identifies root causes for discrimination and exclusion in general. We may have to look at inclusion as the right to non-discrimination, which applies to every human being! Maybe we need to advocate for a more positive approach towards difference and diversity, as something positive rather than as an obstacle, making education more meaningful and interesting.
• Another important issue is the voice of children/youth. Where are the children in these debates? Do we ask for children’s opinions on these and other matters affecting their lives? Would that not be a necessary and integral part of inclusive education?

Food for Thought 4:

• Private schools are coming up rapidly in all countries in Asia. Is this good or bad for inclusive developments? Can private schools be inclusive schools if they prevent the poor from access to quality education? How inclusive are private schools inside the classroom, for example, with poor achieving students?
• Different education systems/programmes in the Asia region may also have to start looking into gender issues focusing on non-performance, repetition and dropping out of boys. How do different countries deal with this and what is being done to maintain a gender balance in education in general?

Different people from all over the region have provided their feedback and inputs for these debates. We would like to continue these discussions and invite readers to join. Our readers are invited to provide contributions for the next newsletter on the different issues that have come up in “Food for Thought” 1 to 4. “Food for Thought” 5 is coming up very soon too. Let us hear from you and from the different parts of our region and learn together from each other.

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents