BRAC, a leading international development organization, has been working to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities to education through its inclusive education program. This article discusses the BRAC approach in Bangladesh and aims to identify its strategies that are effective in facilitating inclusion. It employed a qualitative research approach where data were collected from students with disabilities, their parents, and BRAC’s teachers and staffs using qualitative data collection techniques.
The results show that the disability-inclusive policy and all other activities are strongly monitored by a separate unit under BRAC Education Program (BEP). It mainly focuses on sensitizing its teachers and staff to the issue through training, discussing the issue in all meetings and ensuring effective use of a working manual developed by the unit. Group-based learning and involving them in income generating activities were also effective. The findings of the study would be useful for policy makers and other national and international organizations that are working on the issue.
BRAC’s Strategies to Ensure Disability-Inclusive Education:
BRAC adopted inclusive approach to its education program in 2003. Since then, BRAC has been undertaking many strategies to ensure education for persons with disabilities. As reported by the respondents, the study reveals and summarizes below a number of strategies that were effective in facilitating inclusion.
1. Establishment of a Separate Unit:
BRAC established a separate unit, namely Persons with Disabilities (PWD) unit, under its
education programme. The unit oversees the disability inclusion policy in all the components of BEP, with the support of a technical team, called Sector Specialists (SS). The team monitors and ensures implementation of the entire action plan on disability inclusion in BRAC’s program. The unit works to ensure access of children with disabilities to preprimary and primary education with an inclusive approach, focusing particularly on those
from marginalised families or living in remote areas. Initially, it started working to ensure
inclusive education in BRAC Schools, later in other components of BEP, i.e., Adolescent
Development Programme, Gonokendras etc. The Sector Specialists of the unit also provide
technical training on Rapid Neurodevelopmental Assessment (RNDA), speech therapy,
occupational therapy, physiotherapy and training on identification of types and degree of
disability to the teachers. The researchers summarized BRAC’s strategies and the ways they
facilitate inclusion of persons with disabilities in education (see Table 2). Based on data
collected from the field, the researchers also developed a model featuring BRAC’s strategies
to ensure inclusive education for persons with disabilities (see Figure 1).
2. Undertaking Disability-Inclusive Classroom Policy:
The researchers asked the field staffs if it was obligatory to enroll children with disabilities in BRAC schools and other components of BEP. As reported, it was instructed that at least 3 in a cohort of 30 students would be from persons with disabilities. If not found, at least one student should be from persons with disabilities. The operation manual for teachers developed by BRAC clearly mentions what special support needs to be provided based on the disabilities they are experiencing. The researchers asked a girl with visual impairment from BRAC School about the support she got in classroom. She mentioned ‘my teacher used to keep a sit for me in the front, she used to write on the board in bigger font so I can see the letter easily. The round of blackboard and my slate were colored yellow.”
3. Introducing Disability-Friendly Curriculum:
BRAC introduced braille method for visually impaired children in its schools. The SS provides training to teachers of the schools on braille method where visually impaired students got admitted. The students participate in public examination using the method. The SS also provides training on sign language to those teachers who are required to teach students with hearing impairment.
4. Ensuring Disability-Friendly Infrastructure:
All the schools’ infrastructures are designed so it can be convenient for the students with disabilities. The infrastructure is customized based on their needs. When any student with physical disabilities get admitted in a school, the school infrastructure is made convenient for them so they can easily access to the school using wheel-chair or any other supportive devices. BRAC also helps students with physical disabilities through proving toilet chair and special chair convenient for them. It also makes ramp to ensure their access to the schools.
5. Creating Peer-Supportive Environment:
The researchers visited the schools in the study areas. They observed that there were five types of poster hanged on the wall in every school. They were about to raise the awareness of the students about the disability issue and about the rights and needs of the persons with disabilities. The titles of the posters were ‘causes and prevention of disability’, ‘disaster management and our responsibilities towards persons with disabilities’, ‘symptoms of autism’, ‘right, not opportunity-1’, and ‘right, not opportunity-2’. The contents of the posters have been introduced to the students during class and to the parents during parents’ meeting.
6. Sensitizing Staffs and Teachers:
As observed in the study, BRAC emphasized more on sensitizing teachers, staffs to the disability inclusion issue, which is the key to success of the intervention. It has been done through intensive training to the teachers and staffs. Sensitizing teachers and other staff have become an ongoing process in BRAC. BRAC discusses the progress on disability inclusion in all meetings, workshop and internal communication. The teachers are regularly made aware about the issue through discussing it in teachers’ refresher’s class, which takes place once in a month to train teachers about the course material. BRAC also developed one operation manual for teachers and one operation manual for staffs highlighting guidelines on the process of disability inclusion in BRAC Education Program.
7. Sensitising Parents and Community People:
BRAC creates awareness about the rights and needs of persons with disabilities among their parents through discussing the issue in the parents’ meeting. The meeting takes place once in every month where different issues of the students are discussed and resolved. BRAC included disability issue in the agenda for discussion in the meeting. Community people are also involved in the meetings. It also creates awareness among community people about disability inclusion issue to make them ready to meet the needs of the persons with disabilities. Apart from running awareness raising campaigns on rights of persons with disabilities, it organizes community level workshop and observes disability related days with different activities.
8. Providing Medical Support and Assistive Devices:
The unit also provides medical support to the students with disabilities who are in need. The support includes financial support for surgery and providing assistive devices. Treatment includes eye operation, cleft lip and palate surgery, eye treatment, hearing treatment, and other possible treatments for the students with disabilities. It also supports them with assistive devices like wheel chair, brace, crutch, hand splint walking stick, artificial leg, hearing aid, spectacles and special lamp for visually impaired, braille books, stylus, letter cube, white cane, braille paper, and other needed assistive devices.
The researchers asked the teachers and staffs why BRAC provides treatment support and
assistive devices. One of the teachers mentioned that most of the children with disabilities are from poor and marginalized families. Their family members are not willing to provide treatment to them thinking that it would be an unnecessary expenditure or being unable to bear the cost. “If we want them to continue their education, we need to provide treatment support to them”, a teacher of BRAC primary school said.
9. Referring Students With Disabilities to NDD Centres:
BRAC also started setting up NDD centres for those with neurodevelopmental disabilities. Since the centres are operated under the same unit, there is collaboration among the inclusive schools and the NDD centres. If the inclusive schools find that any students with neurodevelopmental disabilities need specialized support, such as therapy or professional care, the teachers and concerned SS refer them to the NDD centres.
10. Engaging Students With Disabilities in Cultural and Other Extra-Curricular Activities:
BRAC emphasises more on engaging persons with disabilities in cultural and other extra-curricular activities. While visiting the schools, we found that all the persons with disabilities actively take part in dancing, singing, drawing and other fine arts. “If we do not involve them in sports and cultural activities, they will start feeling isolated. I found all of my students with disabilities are very good at extracurricular activities”, a teacher from a BRAC School in Mymensingh District reported.
11. Engaging Students With Disabilities in Income-Generating Activities:
The BRAC’s unit makes comprehensive need assessment of a parson with disabilities. Those who are unable to continue their studies are supported with a source of income. While engaging them in income generating activities, the capacity and other resources of the persons with disabilities are considered. The strategy of engaging them in income generating activities is not same for all, rather the concerned staffs can choose effective strategies based on the needs of the students with disabilities.
Some are helped with grocery shop, some are with cows and goat while others are also provided with swing machine to help them support themselves and their families. Those who already passed some public examinations and are in need of job are referred to some organizations. Some of the BRAC graduates are now doing jobs in different sectors having referred by BRAC.
12. Continuation of Support Even After Graduation:
BRAC observed that a portion of those who successfully completed primary education from BRAC schools drops out very early after getting enrolled in secondary education. BRAC started keeping the record of them and communicate regularly with them. We asked one of the in-depth case study participants how BRAC supports him even after his graduation from BRAC. He mentioned “they regularly keep contact with me. Still they invite me in sports competition and in other cultural programme. They told me that they will help me in getting job after completion of my education.”
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