Inclusive Education in Action, Uthukela (IE Uthukela) October 2012–July 2016

Inclusive Education in Action Uthukela was an international project in which MIET AFRICA partnered with africa action/Deutschland e.V. to pilot inclusive school development to improve education access, retention and progression for all children and youth, using a holistic inclusive education strategy. The other countries involved were Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ghana and India.

The South African component of the project was located as a pilot in the Uthukela District in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). It focused on researching the continuum of support that schools provide to learners across the three levels of support—i.e. at a mainstream school, a full-service school and a special school as resource centre (namely Lokothwayo Combined school as the mainstream school, Madlala full-service school, and Nkanyezi Special School as a Resource Centre, respectively.) Specifically, it aimed at strengthening the KZN Department of Education’s Inclusive Education strategy, which sought to address all barriers experienced by learners, including those related to curriculum, pedagogy, disability, poverty, poor health and disease, orphaning, sexual abuse and violence, hunger and poor nutrition. The goal of the project was to ensure that disabled and socially disadvantaged children and young people aged 6–14 (for people with disabilities, up to 21) in the Uthukela District received quality education through access to an inclusive education support system.

The pilot project, ending in July 2016, demonstrated how the continuum of support across the three school types at district level could benefit children who are denied access to quality education because of barriers to learning and development. The project also focused on how teachers could screen and identify learners with barriers and implement individual support plans that catered for learners of different abilities.

The international component of the project involved research, which in South Africa was conducted by africa action/Deutschland e.V. In September 2013, the Uthukela project hosted the first inter-country project sharing meeting, with delegates from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Germany and India attending. Delegations from South Africa participated in subsequent meetings in Burkina Faso, India and Bolivia.

IE Uthukela was funded by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development in Germany (BMZ: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung).

For more information contact Chris Ramdas chris@miet.coza