CICE Policy Brief Forewords Kazuo Kuroda, Waseda University, Japan 1. Reconsidering the meaning of inclusive education Yukari Ishida, JICA Hokkaido, Japan 1 2. An exploration of education experiences and identity construction of blind students in the United Kingdom Yukari Ishida, JICA Hokkaido, Japan 11 3. Vernacular Inclusive Education: ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ in Viet Nam Kengo, Shirogane, Biwako Gakuin University, Japan 21 4. Inclusive education in Singapore: From the perspectives of efficiency versus equity Yuko Nonoyama-Tarumi, Musashi University, Japan 35 5. Resource room inclusive education in India at a crossroads: A case study of Chennai, South India Tatsuya Kusakabe, Hiroshima University, Japan, Robinson Tamburaj Madras Christian College, India 47 6. Inclusive education in Bhutan Riho Sakurai, Hiroshima University, Japan 53 7. Inclusive Education in Sri Lanka: Factors contributing to good practices Hiroko Furuta, Kumamoto University, Japan K. A. C. Alwis, Open University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka 63 8. Education for children with disabilities in Maldives: Special needs education and inclusive education Minoru Morishita, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan Jun Kawaguchi, University of Tsukuba, Japan 73 9. Inclusive Education in Bangladesh: Current Status, Scope and Implications for Learning Improvement Asim Das, Institute of Education and Research, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh Tatsuya Kusakabe, Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education, Hiroshima University, Japan 81 10. The impact of inclusive education in Asia and Africa: Focusing on the right to education for children with disabilities in Cambodia Makiko Hayashi, University of the Sacred Heart, Japan 89 CICE Policy Brief Foreword This issue of the publication series of the Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education, Hiroshima University (CICE policy brief) is a collection of policy briefs that have been produced by the research project conducted with the support of the “ODA Grants for UNESCO Activities” which was initiated by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Our project was initiated in 2012 collaborating with UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau of Education (UNESCO Bangkok) and a network of Asian researchers on inclusive education was formulated to conduct this research project. The network was consisted of young scholars and fellows who were researching inclusive education in Japan and other Asia Pacific countries. The first period of the research project was led by Waseda University, and then CICE, Hiroshima University took over the initiative for the second period. The members continued the research works throughout the two periods. Thanks to the hard works and collaboration of participating members, the project was successfully completed with the fruits of many research papers to present possible solutions for various issues and areas concerning inclusive education. Equally importantly, the project left another valuable and useful public bedrock, which was an international and inter-university researcher-to-researcher network across Japan and Asia Pacific countries in the field of education. Their strong commitments of participating universities and researchers have led the network for continuation and further strengthening of this collaborative relationship. Each member of the project selected one or more study theme(s) in the field of inclusive education, and they are listed in table of contents. To ensure the variety of the studies, each member developed its own conceptual framework for each research theme and conducted the actual research. In order to maintain a certain level of quality, we organized three international meetings and symposiums where members gave comments and feedbacks to each other. These meetings and symposiums also provided useful and fruitful opportunities for exchangeable learning among the members. We certainly hope that these researches will have some impacts on inclusive education policies and practices in Asia Pacific. Finally, let me take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation not only to the authors of this publication but also UNESCO Bangkok staffs involved in the research projects for their great contributions. I do hope this research endeavor will further develop. Kazuo Kuroda Professor, Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Waseda University CICE Policy Brief 1. Reconsidering the meaning of inclusive education Yukari Ishida, JICA Hokkaido, Japan Introduction backgrounds. In the early industrialization Inclusive education is today understood as era in the United States (in the early to mid- ‘educating all children equally without any 1800s), large numbers of unskilled workers discrimination’. However, while inclusive migrated from rural to urban areas and from education, in the sense of welcoming European countries. The number of migrants children of all abilities into mainstream in major cities increased significantly in the schools, is believed to be the best way of late 1800s, and immigrants filled the urban promoting social participation of ghettos (Danforth, Taff and Ferguson, 2006). disadvantaged people and of achieving As a result, the ghettos were overcrowded Education for All, there is a counterargument and typically lacked adequate running water that education in special schools is in fact and sanitation systems, electrical power, better in helping children with special garbage collection and health care. Crime educational needs. According to the latter was high and people were plagued by view, special schools assist children with disease. Immigrants and low-paid workers special needs to gain higher self-esteem. were discriminated against and were This paper will begin by examining the excluded from other sectors of American educational situation in the United Kingdom society. Many immigrant children did not (UK) and the background for inclusive understand English so teachers had education. Next, the shifts in the meaning of difficulties teaching them (Danforth, Taff and inclusive education will be examined and five Ferguson, 2006). definitions will be introduced. Following this When the Universal Declaration of Human review of the history of inclusive education Rights was adopted in 1948, governments and its original meaning, the effects, began to consider the rights of people who methods and indicators will be discussed. had hitherto faced discrimination. Later, following the adoption of the United Nations Convention Against Discrimination in Education in 1964, governments placed Social inclusion greater emphasis on preventing and First of all, let us examine the origins of the eliminating discrimination in education, and term ‘social inclusion’, which has similar promoting equal educational opportunity. connotations to ‘inclusive education’. It is This was further strengthened with the often presumed that there is a consensus as establishment of the International Covenant to what is being referred to when the term on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in ‘inclusive education’ is used, and people 1966. tend to discuss the topic as one, singular Subsequently, in the 1980s, governments concept. Yet, the concept of ‘inclusive in Europe and the United States paid greater education’ is multiple and ambiguous; there attention to providing support for people are almost as many definitions of inclusive who had been excluded from society, education as there are researchers (Shimizu, including racial and religious minorities. At 2007, Warnock, 2005). this time, discrimination against Although ‘inclusive education’ is disadvantaged peoples came to be called sometimes seen as a way to achieve ‘social ‘social exclusion’. Accordingly, the phrase, inclusion’, the terms have different 1 CICE Policy Brief ‘social inclusion’ came to be seen as a way of However, the government of the United countering social exclusion. Thus, when the Kingdom wanted to integrate most children phrase first started being used, the main into mainstream schools and decrease the subject of social inclusion was immigrants. number of special schools (Warnock, 2005). While the main subject of social inclusion Some members of the committee likewise was immigrants, the main subject of special believed that the ideal of inclusion would not needs education, integration and ‘inclusive be achieved unless all children were education’ was children with disabilities. integrated into mainstream schools and all special schools closed. They believed that if proper educational support were provided to the children with special needs in Warnock's view of special mainstream schools, they would not need educational needs special schools. For the government, In 1974, the Committee of Inquiry into the sending children with severe disabilities to Education of Handicapped Children and special schools was the last resort (Warnock, Young People was established in the UK, 2005). based on the 1972 education law, which In the 1978 Warnock Report, the sought to give all children the right to committee proposed a ‘statement system’, education. One of the tasks of the committee which provided support for children with was ‘to articulate a concept of education that special educational needs based on the could make sense in the context of any child, contents of a ‘statement’, issued by the anywhere on the continuum of ability or child’s local government. Such ‘statements’ disability’ (Warnock, 2005, p.18). Accordingly, were expected to help children