Leadership of nominated schools in the Othukela District, together with District officials and MIET AFRICA, attended a meeting earlier on this year at which the new project was introduced by Mrs Khumsila Naidoo of the Provincial office. She explained how so far the inclusive education strategy had managed to reach mainstream schools around the full service schools,and that much effort had gone into establishing institution level support teams (ILSTs), circuit based support teams (CBSTs) and district based support teams (DBSTs).
However, the role of the special school as resource centre (SSRC) had not been fully explored. The new project will give the opportunity to pilot development of a continuum of support across all three levels of support in the system. The three chosen schools in Othukela were strategically located for purposes of the study: Nkanyezi – the special school as resource centre; Madlala – the full service school; and Lukuthwayo – the mainstream school.
Othukela District has been chosen for the pilot because it represents a typical KZN socio-economic scenario, and because the District has a good record of delivery in inclusive education.
The Inclusive Education in Action project was proposed and conceptualized at a conference in Germany in 2009 and the pilot schools will soon be visited by the German partners so that they can gain an idea of the situation on the ground.
