This policy, which is set within the context of national and international legislation, outlines the commitment to inclusive education made by the Liberian Ministry of Education (MoE). Inclusive education (IE) is about making fundamental changes to the entire education system, following a principle of universal design2. This means making changes to policies, resource allocation, teaching practices, curricula, assessment, infrastructure, etc, so that education/schools become flexible and able to adapt to the needs of every learner.
Inclusive education improves the education of all children. This can be achieved through changing social attitudes and culture to be more accepting of disability and diversity. Education is the prerequisite to national development. Seen in this light, education is an indispensable means of unlocking human potential and protecting human rights by providing the environment that is required to secure good health, liberty, security, economic well-being and participation in social and political activities.
The policy contains seven overarching objectives, and each objective contains several specific strategies (see Section 7). Many of the strategies are directly aligned with the strategic objectives in the Liberia MoE ‘Getting to Best Education Sector Plan 2017-2021’ as detailed in annex 1 ‘Mapping IE policy objectives against ESP strategies and objectives’. A separate IE policy implementation plan will be produced, prioritizing and detailing the actions to be taken towards raising awareness of, and achieving, these objectives.
The Policy development process involved participatory consultation with key stakeholder groups from public institutions (including teachers and students), civil society, the private sector, and the community, and built on a compilation of resolutions adopted at a consultative IE meeting with stakeholders, education partners and the MoE in February 2017. The overarching goal of this Inclusive Education (IE) Policy is to expand and enable the education management and delivery services to respond to the diverse needs of learners in Liberia.
The Children Assistance Program, Inc. (CAP) participated in the validation of the document.
