Africanizing Inclusive Education: Why, How, Who, Where and What to be Included

Abstract

Although a lot of attention has been given to inclusive education (IE) both as a human right and a means of achieving equality and education for all goal, there has been controversies and complexities in its implementation. Moreover, there has been concerns on the need to decolonize/contextualize it to increase its relevance in African settings. The purpose of this study is to review relevant literature on IE in the African region. It aims at exploring IE progress and challenges in Africa as documented in existing literature and thereafter propose mechanisms of Africanizing education to ensure inclusion of African philosophy and culture to make education more accessible, meaningful, and productive. Integrative literature review was employed to analyse and synthesize database, publication, and online sources to present a more comprehensive understanding of the concept. Reference was given to the theories of inclusion and exclusion models to amicably conceptualize inclusion in a school setting. The focus was on African countries: Lower income countries are reported to adopt the western education systems with little regard to their context and as influenced by colonialism and globalization. There is therefore the need of an education system that addresses African-centred knowledge and values. The author therefore attempts to identify education elements in need of Africanization and strategies of achieving it. The study recommends restructuring policies and curriculums to make them more relevant and applicable to their regions of implementation, redefining diversity in an African setting, improving school conditions, and equipping teachers to accommodate a diverse population of learners, diversifying methodologies and adapting a whole school and community approach.