Kuwentong PagkakaISA 2: How Inclusive Education Pays it Forward
by The Teacher’s Gallery — Kathleen Emnas
Learning about Inclusive Education prompts those who listen to imagine what an inclusive education in the future can look like for children with disabilities, without the fear of experiencing discrimination. Those who believe this imagine a world that embraces people of all backgrounds, and endeavor to create a life everyone deserves.
But for those who have not heard about Inclusive Education, what do they think? What are the beliefs they had about children with disabilities — how did they perceive them?
More importantly, after learning about what Inclusive Education is and why it is important, how do they change?
Norhata Mamantik-Macaundas shared her story of an encounter with a student with a disability, and how her perception of what education should be was forever changed after attending a training workshop on Inclusive Education.
With support from the Australian Government through the Education Pathways to Peace in Mindanao (Pathways) program and its implementing partner The Teacher’s Gallery (TTG), the workshop was hosted as part of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) Inclusive Schools Approach initiative.
A first encounter
Being a mother, Norhata knew what it was like to fear for her children and their studies, because it can greatly influence their future. She knew that sometimes because of this, parents act drastically to protect their child’s education. This was where Ms. Macaundas — then Teacher Norhata — began her story.
In 2015, Teacher Norhata visited the school along with other parents to observe the class. She observed that her child had a classmate who was makulit (mischievous). This student loved to run around the classroom and distract their classmates from their classwork. She saw the parents of the child sitting at the back of the classroom, telling the other parents that the child would tire themselves out eventually, and to just be patient.
Being a mother who trusted that their child was in school and studying well while they were working hard for their future, she felt frustrated that there was nothing being done. Back then, she thought that if this was how the child was, perhaps they had a negligent mother. It turned out that the parents of the other children in the room felt the same way.
What they didn’t know was that the child had a learning disability, which had an impact on their behaviour in the classroom.
Later on, the group of parents submitted a school petition to exclude the child from the classroom activities so that their children would be able to focus on school. They said that the child did not belong in the classroom. The student was removed not long after that.
Looking back, but paying it forward
Today, Ms. Macaundas looks back on this memory years later in regret that she ever did those things.
“I felt guilty that I had a shallow understanding. Before I judged them, I should have talked to the mother. I wish that she helped us understand what her child was going through.”
If she knew what they were going through, she might have helped them — given her experience as an educator. At the same time, she acknowledged that it was possible the parents did not know, or that they were simply protecting their child from the cultural stigma against disability.
After attending the training on the basics of disability and inclusive education for the selected Enumerators for the pilot disability data gathering of the Inclusive and Supportive Centers of Learning (ISCL) Project, she realised that it was important to always extend one’s understanding.
Norhata wishes that she could meet that parent from the 2015 encounter again, and promises to look for her. This became part of her purpose as an Enumerator; and for her, perhaps the reason she was chosen in the grand scheme of things.
She was surprised when she was selected by her supervisor as an Enumerator, and described herself as someone who was afraid of disability due to the culture of parents hiding children with disabilities. But soon after the training, she realised that there was nothing to be afraid of — and that this was a sign for her to change.
Teacher Norhata considered her position in Tabuan Elementary School in the Lanao Del Sur II Division an opportunity for her to use what she had learned to pay it forward. She plans to prioritise identifying learners in need of assistance when face-to-face classes resume.
How parents and teachers must build an inclusive world for children with disabilities
For Norhata, it was important that parents of children with disabilities be helped to understand that their child belongs, and that they should not be hidden. Though the child knows that they are different, they should also feel that they belong. Norhata promises to talk to them and tell them that they should come be part of the school activities.
“Children with disabilities must belong, because they are human and they feel, too.”
It was also important for her that teachers accept them. “Children with disabilities find strength in us, even parents. There are parents who bring their children to school, while facing the fear that they would be rejected because of their child’s condition… We must be open to them.”
Putting learning into action
Mistakes are opportunities to learn — everyone knows this, but not everyone does learn.
Norhata Mamantik-Macaundas shows what it means to acknowledge one’s mistakes after learning, to be brave enough to face one’s guilt, and to transform ourselves to be instruments of change. Being human means being imperfect — but beyond that, her story teaches us that being human also means always trying to be better, and moving on to build a world that is better than before.
Norhata Mamantik-Macaundas is the School Head of Tabuan Elementary School in the Lanao Del Sur-II district. Currently, she is serving as an Enumerator in the Pilot Disability Data Gathering as part of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education’s (MBHTE) Inclusive Schools Approach initiative, supported by the Australian Government through Education Pathways to Peace in Mindanao (Pathways) and The Teacher’s Gallery (TTG).