| Description of good practice: |
Primary Education Development Program (PEDP) is an umbrella program of Bangladesh government to enhance primary education. The program has been running under a number of series since 1997. The first program (1997-2003) focused on the gross enrollment rate in primary education. As part of this purpose, the first program “addressed the needs of the marginalized groups of children in a limited manner”. However, the second program (2004-2011) incorporated a specific component on inclusive education to address diversity in the regular school system. Within Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), an Access and Inclusive Education Cell (AIEC) has established in 2005 that was responsible for initiating efforts in inclusion. The second PEDP developed an Inclusive Education Framework to implement inclusive education across the country. The framework included four specific target groups; Gender, children with SEN, children from ethnic background and children from vulnerable group (e.g. slum children, refugee children, street children, orphans, children from ultra poor families etc.) to bring them into regular classrooms. Action plans for this framework was consisted of number of activities from language support for ethnic children, modifying school environment for students with SEN to stipend program for students from economically vulnerable families. Second PEDP also made massive training program for the teacher, Head teachers and local education administrators on inclusive education.
Achievements and challenge:
Study shows PEDP-II has made important strides forward in terms of social inclusion during
it's early years. However, the goals of full inclusion is far to achieve.
Enrollment:
Under PEDP, a formal declaration has been made by the Directorate of Primary Education that students with SEN would not be denied of their enrollment from regular school. This declaration was the first government initiative to provisionally ensure the admission of students with SEN in regular school.
The baseline survey conducted in 2005 revealed that 45,680 children with SEN were accommodated in primary schools and among them a significant number students were with intellectual disabilities (PEDP Completion Report, 2011). The enrollment of special needs children increased by 5% each year (Annual Sector Performance Report, Directorate of Primary Education, 2010). However, the exact number of school aged children with SEN has not been identified any report.
Training:
IE training has been provided to huge number of teachers from almost all parts the country
(approximately 88% of subdistricts/Upazilas). According to DPE (2007) the number of teachers who have participated in this training is 6,500. However, in the contemporary research conducted in Bangladesh suggests that there is further need of effective training on inclusive education (Ahsan, Sharma & Deppeler, 2012). The pre-service teacher training curriculum has been revised and included inclusive education issues (Hossain, 2008). Yet, there are evidences suggesting lack of teachers’ knowledge of disability (Malak, 2013) and inclusive pedagogy (Das & Ochiai, 2012). Further teachers had limited familiarization with the existing policy, laws and legislation about education of students with disabilities and different ethnic backgrounds (Sarker & Davey, 2009). Cross-cultural studies consistently show that lack of understanding influences teachers’ attitudes negatively towards teaching
(Forlin, Loreman, Sharma, 2007). The theory of Planned Behaviour claimed that attitude is the most significant factor to influence teachers’ action (Ajzen, 1991). In Bangladesh, research shows the link between teachers’ positive attitudes towards disability and their intended behaviors (Ahmed, Sharma & Deppeler, 2012). A teacher’s comment on teaching a Deaf child,
"This boy is always shy, not sociable and spontaneous like others … so it is difficult for me
to involve him in activities. I don’t feel he is comfortable working with other children.
As you can see I have large numbers too, so it is not an easy thing to cater to individual
differences or disabilities. (Banu, 2013, p.189)"
Other than teacher training, the PEDP second program also organized trainings for the local education authority (Educations officers, URC instructors) to support the school to implement inclusive education. In addition to this, inclusive education consultants were recruited in each of the districts to provide expert services at the field.
In terms of numbers, training for local education authority and teachers are quite notable (conducted inclusive education training for 2,790 UEOs, AUEOs and URC Instructors from all 502 Upazila). However, there are limited information we know on what extent these training have impacted on teachers’ attitude and theirs teaching practices. Das (2011) study shows that the most of the training manuals were not effective for preparing teachers to teacher students with SEN in the regular classroom.
School support:
For the purpose of providing basic education to children in remote areas, a good number of new infrastructures have been developed under the second PEDP. It is also mentionable that some additional facilities (e.g., ramps, modification of classroom furniture etc.) were added to the existing school infrastructure for providing access to children having SEN. However, in the annual sector performance report 2012 shows that the infrastructural development has not been achieved as it was targeted (DPE, 2012). Also, recent Malak’s study (2013) demonstrated teachers’ disappointments on inadequate classroom facilities.
In addition to infrastructure, the role of SMC has been consistently suggested as a major support for implementing inclusive education at the school. However, though the massive training has been provided, studies (Malak, 2013; Mullick, Deppeler, & Sharma, 2012) found that due to the lack of awareness of the SMC members regarding disability, inclusive education initiatives is facing challenges. Therefore, it implies that the sensitization program through SMC training is inadequate.
One of the challenges of the program was to bring the children with ethnicity in the classroom. The program itself evaluated that “due to the lack of institutional experience and capacity, opportunities for special needs, tribal and vulnerable children have not been created to the expected level” (project completion report for PEDPII, cited in DPE, 2012). In a study conducted in the northern part of Bangladesh, Sarker and Davey (2009) also found that language was one of the aspects inhibited a large percentage of children with ethnicity to participate in the primary education. |
