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Bold suggestions towards achieving equal education for all in South Africa

Bold suggestions towards achieving equal education for all in South Africa
Mary G. Clasquin-Johnson
By Mary G. Clasquin-Johnson
5 Feb 2025
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While legislation and policies adopted since 1994 have similarly aimed to create an enabling framework for inclusive education in theory, its practical implementation has not followed as intended.

Coinciding with the commemoration of 30 years of democracy, Sigamoney Manicka Naicker’s latest book Education and the working class: Is there hope for an inclusive approach? presents a thought-provoking assessment of South Africa’s progress (or lack thereof) toward achieving education for all, as articulated in a range of international conventions and declarations. 

While legislation and policies adopted since 1994 have similarly aimed to create an enabling framework for inclusive education in theory, its practical implementation has not followed as intended. While many education scholars continue to grapple with this dilemma, few understand it or know how to change it. This has prompted Naicker to offer some bold suggestions for the field.

Set in the context of the Western Cape, Naicker illustrates how neo-liberal macroeconomic policies combined with systemic barriers impede education and social transformation. Emanating from the education bureaucracy, these barriers pervade all system levels, as illuminated by the “reading for meaning problem” at the classroom level.

Drawing stark parallels between schools located in drastically different socioeconomic neighbourhoods, Naicker argues that quality education remains elusive for children from working-class communities. According to Naicker, poor children will continue to battle because they are overlooked by educational planning and implementation. Rather than reducing inequality, the education system perpetuates it.

Consequently, the exclusion of vulnerable children exacerbates crime. 

Implementation challenges


Although limited, his snapshot of the implementation challenges of inclusive education in other developing and African countries reinforces his argument that piecemeal change is unsustainable. Naicker’s thesis is that the status quo will remain without a radical system restructuring. 

Drawing on his experience as a scholar, bureaucrat, and policymaker, Naicker unpacks what such radical transformation could entail, including reducing the power of special education and leveraging universal design principles for learning to advance diversity and inclusivity. 

I agree with Naicker that the lack of explicit operational guidelines has undermined inclusive education. In conflict with its policies, the Department of Basic Education has expanded special schools, which has led to widespread confusion while reinforcing stigma, discrimination, and exclusion. For example, most learners who exit special schools are still excluded from accessing post-school learning and the world of work. 

In addition, an implementation plan for Education White Paper 6 developed in 2001 remains outstanding. Many scholars have attributed this to a lack of political will. Naicker reinforces this in his analysis of departmental strategic goals, noting that “not a single goal reflects a genuine desire to understand the challenges plaguing the education system”.

Comprehensive needs assessment


While I concur with Naicker that schools need to “create the conditions for all learners to flourish”, I am not convinced that a comprehensive needs assessment is required to understand their diverse backgrounds and needs. 

This has been the focus of many local scholars who persistently lament the lack of implementation, offering recommendations that go unheeded. Naicker does, however, prompt us to consider his proposed nineteen sequential steps to collaboratively develop and implement an alternative pedagogy inclusive of all education stakeholders.

I cannot dispute Naicker’s assessment that inclusive education has yet to be operationalised in South Africa. Everyone concerned about South African education should read this book. DM

Education and the working class: Is there hope for an inclusive approach? is published by African Sun Media. Mary Clasquin-Johnson is an associate professor in the Department of Inclusive Education at the University of South Africa. She writes in her personal capacity.

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