THE NEED FOR TEACHER PRE- SERVICE AND IN-SERVICE TRAINING IN LESOTHO’S INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

The obligation to educate all people, including people with disabilities, was proclaimed by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948: Everyone has the right to education (United Nations, 1948). After much lobbying by Disabled People Organizations (DPOs) in the mid-80s, Lesotho finally lay the ground work for a policy to integrate children with disabilities into the mainstream schooling system in 1990 (Stubbs, 2000: 1). These efforts finally matriculated with the Ministry of Education and Training producing and adopting an Inclusive Education Policy in 2018. The policy had been long awaited as available data indicates that “children living with disabilities enrolled in ECCD schools were less than two percent between 2015 and 2017 nationwide” (MoDP: 41). An overarching policy that brings synergy to all policies relating to special needs education and providing quality education to students with such needs was thus in dire need. The former has been achieved however fixes are required in bolstering the quality. A study by the National University of Lesotho as well consultations with teacher formations held by LCN have unearthed inconsistencies in the special-needs education (SNE) training provided to teachers, with some teachers having undergone a training of some form whilst most have not. It is therefore recommended that Lesotho develop a Special Needs Education Training Manual to ensure consistency and then provide universal pre-service training for those entering the teaching fraternity and in-service training for teachers already in service on the basis of these manuals. This should bolster the competency and skill-set of all teachers to deliver quality education to all students including learners with special education needs (LSEN)