The education system in Africa has its contradictions and complexities, all of which hinder the successful implementation of inclusive education. Learners with disabilities in Africa have suffered widespread violations of their rights. Inclusive education for learners with learning barriers should be acknowledged in an African context. The lens of ubuntu provides an unconventional knowledge system which places the needs of the child at the centre of its focus. Ubuntu philosophy, as one of many African epistemologies, is useful in studying African experiences. Despite the various interventions that have been in place to undo the barriers to inclusive education, there is still a dearth of research in finding solutions to improve the quality of inclusive education. The values of ubuntu may ensure equal access to education. The incorporation of the values of ubuntu into the curriculum that may inspire learners to act according to social accepted norms and values. African governments should consider African epistemologies as tools to address learning barriers.
Top23.1 Introduction
The study conducted by World Health Organisation and Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) have indicated that over 15% of the world’s population, while South Africa recorded that 7.5% of people with disabilities, are often living in poverty and have limited access to quality education and economic activities (World Health Organisation, 2011; Stats SA, 2014). The chapter critically reflects on how to implant the ubuntu philosophy into inclusive education by infusing the values of ubuntu in the curriculum that would encourage people to act according to accepted norms and values. At the heart of ubuntu is the belief that all humans are of value, regardless of their different natures. The chapter explores the inclusion of ubuntu in the curriculum of an African schooling system to address the learning barriers experienced by learners with disabilities. In this context, barriers to learning are viewed as internal or external factors that would limit a learner from reaching their full potential. The education system in Africa has contradictions, complexities, and challenges that hinder the implementation of inclusive education. This calls for curriculum reform to undo the learning barriers which have been informed by the lack of recognition of cultural diversity in the classroom. The chapter argues that in the African context, a curriculum without principles of ubuntu has limited harmony, balance, equality, human dignity and it is fosters learning barriers.
Du Toit (2012) argued that ubuntu philosophy is considered by other scholars as a humanist African philosophy which embraces the interdependence of persons; this is often not distinct in Western curriculum. Education is meant to be enjoyed by all citizens, wherein equity and human dignity should be the core values of a curriculum. Du Toit (2012) noted with great concern that access to quality education appears to be far-fetched, especially for learners with disabilities. There are gaps created by the unequal distribution of resources, especially regarding the population with disabilities, contributing to the barriers to teaching and learning. In Africa there is still a massive gap between the learners with disabilities and those without which creates inequalities in their access to quality education and leads to a violation of basic human rights.
Ubuntu is described as a process of humanizing by means of an inclusive and compassionate interconnectedness between learners, with and without disabilities, which in principle promotes inclusion in the classroom (Grootboom, 2016). There are persistent barriers created by the education system in Africa that limit educational opportunities for learners with disabilities from realizing their basic human rights on an equal level to their peers without disabilities. Kochung (2011) and Khochen-Bagshaw (2020) attested those barriers for inclusion emanate from policies that are insensitive to an inclusive schooling system. This lack of sensitivity hinders mainstreaming and responsiveness to learner diversity. Diversity must be perceived as an opportunity. not as a challenge.