Giving the keynote address at the official opening of a five-day workshop on inclusive education yesterday, Professor Tabulawa acknowledged that this would be a challenge to take on. He said the development of culturally-sensitive pedagogies is needed to make education more inclusive and to make schooling relevant to learners. The current methods of learner-centred teaching are imperialistic, he said.
Professor Tabulawa said education in Botswana is exclusionary because of the current language policy that does not promote linguistic diversity and the teaching of indigenous language. The exclusion of language diversity goes against the definition of Inclusive Education as stipulated in the Inclusive Education Policy of 2011, he said. The policy defines it thus: "An Inclusive Education System is defined as one that includes, and meets the needs of all, including those with special education needs, whatever their gender, life circumstances, health, disability, stage of development, capacity to learn, level of achievement, financial or any other circumstances. No-one should be excluded from education." He added that even though many of us do not associate teaching with politics or economic value, teaching is a highly political activity. He said schools, as sites of political socialisation and human capital formation, must be democratic.
