• More male students with disabilities, more children with learning/intellectual disabilities 
• Multifaceted approach combining spl./integrated/inclusive education recommended
• Categories of disabilities found include intellectual/learning disability, hearing/visual/speech/health impairments, autistic spectrum disorder, multiple disabilities 

The key categories of disabilities found in plantation sector Tamil-medium schools are intellectual disability, learning disability, hearing-related impairment, autistic spectrum disorder, visual impairment, speech-related impairment, health-related impairment, and multiple disabilities. 

Furthermore, the number of male students with disabilities was found to be higher than the number of female students while children with learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities were higher in number.

These findings were made in a research on the ‘Challenges and opportunities in implementing inclusive education in plantation sector schools of Sri Lanka’ which was authored by Dr. S.M. Dawson (attached to the Horizon Campus) and published in the Journal of Innovative Practices in Education's First Volume's First issue, last month (April 2025).

Inclusive education is an approach in which students with many different kinds of disabilities and learning-related needs are educated in classes with non-disabled students. In an inclusive arrangement, students who need additional support spend most of their time with their non-disabled peers rather than in separate classrooms or schools (S.R. Kirschner's ‘Inclusive education’). Unlike special education, inclusive education integrates all learners, addressing diversity and reducing exclusion based on disability, race, or other factors (L.G. Reddy, R. Ramar and A. Kusuma's ‘Education of children with special needs’).

Sri Lanka has promoted inclusive education along with the Universal Free Education Policy in 1945 and the Compulsory Education Policy in 1998. Despite high enrollment rates, children with disabilities still face challenges in access and participation due to factors like inadequate teacher training and infrastructure. In Sri Lanka, the education of children with disabilities in Tamil-medium schools is lagging behind Sinhala-medium schools due to the lack of formal teacher training in the Tamil-medium, which began only in the 2000s (H. Furuta's ‘Education of children with disabilities in the plantation areas of Sri Lanka from a social development perspective’).

The plantation sector in Sri Lanka, concentrated mainly in the Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, and to a smaller extent in the Southern Province and some parts of the Western Province, has historically been marginalised areas with significant educational disadvantages. Special education in the plantation sector began in 2000 with the establishment of special education units in the Hatton Education Zone offering services that bridge children with disabilities with the mainstream education system. However, the overall enrollment of children with disabilities remains low, and schools often fail to provide suitable educational support. The commencement of a few special education units in Tamil-medium schools in 2001 paved the way for getting school enrollments of children with disabilities from their restricted line-room life and this has gradually led to the adoption of inclusive education approaches, though the progress has been slow and uneven.

The problem 

The current global debate surrounding special education centres round the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools, a movement that gained traction following the 1994 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Salamanca (Spain) Conference on Special Needs Education. In Sri Lanka, particularly in the tea-growing plantation areas, educational achievements lag behind national averages, although progress has been made due to legislation mandating free education and the Governmental prioritisation of primary education (W.A. Little's ‘Labouring to learn’).

Despite the advancements in Tamil-medium schools and the establishment of special education units in the 2000s, many children with disabilities still do not receive adequate educational support, often resulting in the continued exclusion of them from formal education. Due to the lack of responsible teachers, most schools have not paid attention to children with disabilities staying out of school. Few schools with special education units enroll children with disabilities according to the stipulated special education teacher-student ratio. The special educational needs student number is high in such schools. Although the legislation now enables the enrollment of children with special education needs in regular schools, the effectiveness of inclusive education remains a question. Many such students are enrolled without proper support, leading to high dropout rates and societal issues such as child labour and marginalisation. 

Inclusive education and children with disabilities

Inclusive education is a strategy aimed at addressing the diverse needs of all learners by increasing participation in learning. It involves integrating children with disabilities into mainstream education with their peers, thus fostering inclusion rather than segregation (L. Losert's ‘Inclusive education for children with disabilities: Best practices in inclusive education for children with disabilities’). Inclusive education is distinct from special education. It refers to a model where disabled and non-disabled children learn together in mainstream schools with the appropriate support. This is an evolution from special education towards quality education for all children, addressing their specific needs in mainstream classrooms (A. Chavuta, N. Phiri, S. Civaya, N. Sikero and G. Alindiamod's ’Inclusive education project report’). The ‘Individuals with Disabilities Education Act' of the United States ensures that students with disabilities are entitled to free and appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment.

Recommended strategic activities in SL

Through a comprehensive status review, policy planners have identified 10 special and inclusive education sector-specific core areas and elements accompanying the directive principles based on the guidelines elaborated in Part III of the National Education Policy Framework (NEPF) - 2020-2030 (National Education Commission, 2022). This approach is taken to ensure that the policy planning process gives comprehensive coverage across the sub-sector-specific core areas and elements while giving due consideration to issues and gaps highlighted in the status review that are hindering the progressive developments of the special and inclusive education sector. The 10 specific core areas are: i) Access for children with special education needs to early childhood care and education; ii) Access for children with special education needs to the regular education system; iii) Learners and the learning environment; iv) The curriculum and the teaching-learning process; v) The quality of the human resources; vi) The quality of the physical resources; vii) The financing of special and inclusive education; viii) Regulation, governance and management; ix) Quality assurance, and x) Data management and research.

What is inclusive practice in education?

Inclusive education is when a school or college educates children of all abilities and backgrounds. It means that children with additional learning needs and special educational requirements are educated within a mainstream learning environment, rather than a specialist school. The inclusive practice in education can be described as attitudes and methods that ensure access to learning for all learners, to make sure that all learners feel welcomed and valued and receive the right support to help them develop their individual talents and achieve their goals (E. Lee's ‘What is the inclusive practice?’). When education is truly inclusive, it not only benefits learners but also the staff, the school and the wider community. Non-inclusive practices include preserving school cultures, policies and practices that are non-responsive to the diversity of learners and which perpetuate inequalities, segregate schooling for disabled learners, valuing some learners more than others, maintaining barriers to some learners' participation in learning, thinking that inclusion mostly concerns disabled learners, viewing differences between learners as problems to be overcome, identifying academic achievement as the main aim of schooling at the expense of personal and moral development, and perceiving inclusion in education as a separate issue from inclusion in the society.

Global situation of inclusive education

In recent years, inclusive education has become the subject of extensive global debate and discussion. Over 160 volumes containing the phrase ‘inclusive education’ are listed in the library catalogue of the Institute of Education in London, England. Several international journals are now exclusively devoted to the subject, and it is regularly selected as the theme for national and international conferences. Outside academia, the promotion of inclusive education has provided the rationale for numerous international development programmes and the focus for international agreements such as the Salamanca Statement (1994) and the Dakar (Senegal) Framework for Action (2000) (G.L. Fanu's ‘Inclusive education and international development: Multilateral orthodoxies and emerging alternatives’).

Implementation in SL context

The Ministry of Education (MOE) in Sri Lanka has been actively involved in promoting inclusive education through a series of circulars aimed at decentralising policies and enhancing the educational framework for students with disabilities, as evident in their recent initiatives. For instance, recent guidelines, such as Circular 37/2020, provide comprehensive strategies for implementing inclusive education in schools, detailing the responsibilities of educators and the support services available for students with disabilities (MOE, 2022, Circular and Guidelines on Special Education Assessment). Further, Circular 33/2022 specifies the institutions responsible for special education assessments, including the Zonal Education Assessment Centres and the Inclusive Education Department of the National Institute of Education (NIE) (MOE, 2022).

Methodology

Dawson's study adopted an exploratory design under the qualitative research approach. It employed participant observation, in-depth interviews (with teachers, administrators, and students), and focus group interviews (with primary class teachers and parents) as data collection methods. 

The Hatton Education Zone in the Nuwara Eliya District was chosen as the study area due to its high concentration of Tamil-medium plantation schools (MOE, 2021, Annual School Census). All the Tamil-medium schools (112) situated in this Zone were initially selected for the survey interview. The key focus was on six schools with special education units from the three Tamil-medium divisions of the particular Zone (two schools from each division). Six principals (one from each school), 30 primary teachers (five teachers from each school), six Special Education teachers (one from each school), five children with disabilities, five children without disabilities, five parents of children with disabilities and five parents of children without disabilities from each school were purposively selected as the participants of the study.

Findings and discussion

Strategies implemented:

Among the schools that responded, about 25% function special education units and they enroll children with disabilities while other schools enroll these children in the mainstream classes. Children who are studying in special education units, after reaching a capable level, are sent for integration education. Children with mild disabilities are sent for general education and they get help from special education teachers. The identification, assessment and evaluation are initiated only by special education teachers. These special education classrooms are also supplied with teaching-learning materials.

Parents and the community support:

It has been identified that parents take care of their children according to their capacity. They request school admission for their children following the normal procedure and send them to school regularly, accompany them to co-curricular activities and routine medical clinics, buy learning materials for their children, and obey all school rules and regulations. Sometimes, these parents’ economic status affects this process. Parents hope that their children are promoted from special education to the integration education or inclusive education set-up. At times, these children receive educational equipment and medical help from well-wishers, medical personnel, social and religious organisations, and non-governmental organisations. However, the assistance received by plantation sector schools is less than the ones in urban areas. Yet, these students are accepted and loved by their parents and their society.

The level of human, physical and infrastructure facilities:

Out of the schools that responded, 49% have no human resource facilities to look after children with disabilities. Also, it was observed that the appropriate equipment is not provided for these students. The special education classes in the schools were the same as the normal classrooms and physical accessibility was not provided according to the special needs of the children. Most of the special education classrooms were not at a satisfactory level in providing the relevant human, physical and infrastructure facilities.

Strengths and weaknesses of the education practices:

As for the strengths, certain schools have enrolled children with special educational needs and the relevant authorities have identified their disabilities and diverse needs. In some schools, a small percentage of special education teachers have been appointed by forming special education units while a few schools have integrated children into mainstream classes. The positive attitude of special education teachers and primary teachers towards inclusive education is highly respected. The respondent primary teachers expressed their willingness to help all children, and principals mentioned the possibility of including special educational needs students in mainstreaming classes, creating equal opportunities. Meanwhile, the Zonal authorities have undertaken the supervision of special education programmes, in-service training for special education teachers and student developmental programmes, even with limited allocations.

There are certain weaknesses identified as well. Though most schools have enrolled children with disabilities, they were not provided with the relevant facilities. For instance, some schools have no one in charge of these children, and the special education classrooms are not equipped properly and adequately. The majority of the mainstream teachers were not aware of inclusive education policies, legislation, practices and appropriate teaching techniques. Though the student-teacher ratio for special education is approved as five:one by the relevant Government Circular, it was revealed that more such students are found in these classrooms.

Gap between the practices and legislations

A wide gap is identified in teacher training. Both special education and primary education teachers lack awareness of inclusive education practices including appropriate teaching techniques that cater to different types of disabilities, finding accessibility and promoting inclusive education policies among children with disabilities. Accordingly, the participation of children with special educational needs in learning was not at a satisfactory level. Also, schools with special education units have enrolled a greater number of students exceeding the approved student-teacher ratio.

Conclusion and recommendations

This study underscores significant challenges impeding the effective implementation of inclusive education in plantation sector schools in Sri Lanka, including teacher shortages, the lack of teacher training, inadequate infrastructure and special equipment, and the lack of awareness of inclusive education among the society. However, these obstacles are counterbalanced by promising opportunities such as growing community support, positive attitudes within school communities and existing legislative frameworks. Prioritising the above efforts will ensure that children with disabilities can access quality education alongside their peers, fostering equality and inclusivity in education.

Increasing awareness of disability rights and inclusive education within school communities is vital. Annual awareness programmes should be organised by zonal-level administrators for school leaders, in-service advisors, teachers, and local communities. Teacher training is equally critical. Mainstream teachers must be provided training on identifying and supporting children with disabilities, while special education teachers should receive specialised training for effective teaching strategies to different types of disabilities.

Schools must prioritise enrolling children with disabilities and adapt both curricula and physical infrastructure accordingly. Local committees comprising various stakeholders should be established to monitor enrollment and address accessibility related barriers. To solve the shortage of special education teachers, schools with at least five students with special educational needs should recruit specialised staff. Coordinating teachers can bridge the gap between mainstream education and special educational needs-related requirements. The NIE and other training colleges should introduce Tamil-medium courses in special education and inclusive education, focusing on developing competencies for supporting children with disabilities in the plantation sector.

Collaboration with Local Government, social service organisations, and plantation management is necessary to provide essential related services, such as medical services, special equipment and transportation. Educational institutions must ensure adequate resources and infrastructure for both special education units and mainstream classrooms. A multifaceted educational approach combining special education, integrated education, and inclusive education is recommended. Strengthening special education units can facilitate smoother transitions for children with disabilities into mainstream settings.