A: Inclusive education simply means that persons with disabilities should be located in a regular educational setting, as if they do not have the “disability”.

In reality, students without disabilities need inclusive education more than those with disabilities as it enables them to fully grasp the value of diversity and right to be different. Often, full inclusion is wrongly interpreted as full-scale mainstreaming of all students with disabilities in regular schools near their homes, regardless of the type and degree of disability. Inclusive education actually involves more than just including every disabled person in a classroom setting; it encompasses appropriate teaching methods, availability of support services, reasonable accommodation, design and aid.

Teaching methods have to be multiple, flexible, creative and suitable to ALL learners, whether they be slow or fast learners, are able to see, hear or move about on their own. While the goal of inclusive education generally cover or include different learners with disabilities, there may well be a minority for whom implementation of the concept due to the nature or degree of their disability.
However, the International Disability Alliance (IDA1) agrees on the following:
• No disability group should accept institutionalization based on their disability;
• No student with disability should accept social or educational “dumping” due to a lack of resources in the school;
• No learner should be excluded from interactions with his/her peers due to a disability;
• No parent should be separated from the child due to the child’s disability;
• No children with disabilities should be excluded from school due to an inaccessible environment;
• All general school curricula in a country should include all children with disabilities; and
• All persons should be able to interact with like-minded people as well as others possessing varying abilities and disabilities is an important part of the learning process.

Many policy makers today strongly support full inclusive education for children with disabilities as the concept recognizes the importance of developing social and functional or practical skills along with academic competence. Inclusive education can be the basis for a mainstream approach to disability in the long-term and a model for a society for ALL as the concept of inclusive education “forces” decision-makers and planners to recognize disability as part of “normal” life.

True inclusive education pre-supposes the provision of the necessary support, materials, aids and services; presence of highly-qualified teachers and parental support; adoption of the curriculum and physical environment as required; and the availability and facilitation of good communication. Otherwise, inclusion becomes nothing more than placing a child with special needs in a regular school without the benefit of meaningful interaction.

Developing a system that includes every potential learner requires input from different stakeholders - governments, the local community, parents, teachers as well as the prospective student. As with all children, those with disabilities must have access to equal and quality education as they should be given the opportunity to reach their full potential with the necessary quality educational programs and assistance.

Q: What is the difference between inclusion and integration?

A: Integration refers to a type of fair educational setting to generate “social” assimilation or a kind of equal educational opportunity, applied to various settings. It is also called partial inclusion or “Least Restrictive Educational Environment” or simple “physical” incorporation in leisure, sport, art, transportation, outing, summer camps, gatherings, festivals and other “occasional” or “seasonal” activities.

Inclusive education in essence, is considered an essential part of one’s lifestyle. It is a tool and an efficient means towards the achievement of a more inclusive society. Inclusive education is a major component of the concept of disability and culture of human rights where equality and full participation prevails.

Q: What are the major challenges in achieving inclusive education in the region?

A: Major challenges are similar, if not the same, in other Southern regions in the world. Developing countries are burdened with one, some or all of the following factors:
• Limited role of civil society
• Lack of participation
• Lack of democracy manifested or reflected in the limited role and participation of civil society in political processes
• Lack of good governance (i.e., accountability and transparency) and prevalent corruption
• Lack of appropriate planning for a sustainable social policy development
• Lack of qualified human resources in the public education sector
• Discrepancy in budgeting social service provision (i.e., education, welfare, health care and others)
• Rigid and inflexible school systems
• Prevailing cultural values, traditions, habits, rituals and norms that maintain inequality, discrimination, devaluation and segregation

The list above is expanded or supplemented by the presence of richer but underdeveloped sub-regions and countries in the region that are among the poorest in the world; lack of development priorities reflected in a serious lack of knowledge, researches, translations and gender equality as shown in human development reports; ineffective implementation of policies and lack of monitoring of activities of countries that are disability-oriented and the observance or execution of the United Nations and League of Arab States Human Rights Declarations and Conventions.

Q: What are the opportunities for inclusive education in the region?

A: It is a well-known fact that the care for persons with intellectual disability started in the region. In the 9th century, Iben Barmak established Bimarstan (institution) in Baghdad for persons with intellectual disability in 837 A.D.; this was followed by the creation of comprehensive institution network around the Islamic nation. While in France, the first in the Western world, the Ahmad Iben Tolon Institution of Egypt was duplicated in the year 1457 A.D., after more than six (6) centuries.

Clearly, there are opportunities but this does not guarantee that things will go smoothly. We have to craft a development strategy so we can take advantage of every prospect and we need to make use of all the good practices available at the local, regional and international levels. We need to move along parallel tracks and examine where we can involve stakeholders in the inclusive education process.

Plans are not ready-to-use recipes that can be executed for all countries throughout the region; social development varies from country to country and the Arab region consists of varied development systems. However, there are some factors that all Arab countries are in badly need of; these include:

• Well-established, transparent and comprehensive social development policies, with periodic evaluation and monitoring that includes all essential sectors such as health, education, employment and housing FOR ALL;
• Empowerment of legislative bodies to enable them to design, monitor, review and follow-up effective and responsive legislations;
• Capacity-building for civil society organizations;
• Empowerment of NGOs, especially those operating or working at the grassroots level (i.e., families and persons with disabilities);
• Comprehensive awareness-raising to promote the human rights culture;
• Securing qualified human resources in various development domains;
• Investment in researches, studies and knowledge-building; and
• Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and its optional protocols along with the creation of national monitoring bodies where all the stakeholders can participate.