FOR the majority who knew and worked with the late Minister within the Ministry of Education, Dr Desrey Fox, there is the general acknowledgement of her tremendous dedication and commitment to her work.

While she worked on a number of fronts, advancing different agendas, one particular point of focus was on Inclusive Education.

In an interview with this newspaper shortly before her death, Dr. Fox explained that inclusive education is becoming an important concept in reference to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), because it is a children rights’ based approach that develops the capacity to work with and maintain the diversity in Guyana.

CHALLENGES
However, while she recognised that there will be challenges that will affect inclusive education, Dr. Fox posited that there are many positives to outweigh the negatives.

“The greatest challenge will be the monitoring and evaluation in the far-flung areas of Guyana, in terms of transportation and getting the community to understand and accept the concept,” Minister Fox had said.

She pointed out that race-relations, religion, respect and patriotism are other factors that will be affected by inclusive education, because the younger generation, the future of Guyana, will have to understand the diversity of the country.

“That way, they will then appreciate their heritage and be more active in serving the country and, by extension, build Guyana, as they would feel a sense of identity, like they belong,” Dr Fox posited.

According to her, inclusive education is an old concept associated also with the need to integrate special needs of children into the system.

“Now it is expanded and puts the focus on indigenous children and other vulnerable groups, to understand their backgrounds and ensure the education system caters for them,” she said.

She stated that the education process in Guyana has been influenced during the period of colonialism but should be changed to facilitate the diversities, be it religion, race or whatever background from which a child came.

“Guyana has experienced some amount of inclusive education, but not fully, since our education system has not been developed with our own experiences and culture.”

CURRICULUM
As regards the curriculum she pointed out that “in order to meet the mandate of the Education Ministry, which is to achieve universal education, Inclusive Education will aid in developing a curriculum that considers all the backgrounds and cultures in our diverse country.”

Dr Fox said a reformed curriculum will feature certain characteristics, including:

** Recognition of different rights of every child in relation to access to quality education;

** Recognition of the whole child in a broad context;

** Emphasising focus on the child;

** Gender sensitivity;

** Promotion of quality learning;

** Provision of education based on the reality of children’s lives;

** Ensuring inclusion, respect and equality of opportunities for all children;

* Promotion of students rights as well as responsibilities in school environments and communities;

* Enhancing teacher capacity and morale commitment and

* Recognition that education must include focus on the family.

Additionally, in her Budget presentation, in February, she asserted that Inclusive Education was on the list of priorities provided for in the 2009 national budget.

The late Minister represented Guyana at the 48th session of the International Conference of Education (ICE 2008) in Geneva, Switzerland, in November last year.

There she addressed the forum on ‘Inclusive Education – approaches, scope and content – to broaden the understanding of the theory and practices of Inclusive Education’.

Also, while there, she shared in other discussions that focused on: ‘Inclusive Education – public policy – to demonstrate the role of government in the development and implementation of policies on Inclusive Education’; ‘Inclusive Education – learners and teachers – to foster a learning environment where teachers are equipped to meet the diverse learning expectations and needs’; and ‘Inclusive Education – systems, likes and transition- to create education systems which create opportunities for life long learning’.

The conference saw the participation of some 1,000 delegates from many Third World countries and sought to include not only Ministries of Education from different countries but also non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Dr. Desrey Fox was committed to furthering her Ministry’s agenda for the improvement of the education system in Guyana and participated in the design of strategic interventions to achieve timely results.

The Minister in the Ministry of Education died at approximately 03:00 h in the High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), while receiving treatment on Friday last.

The Minister had sustained back and head injuries in a horrific three-vehicle smash-up just outside of Camp Ayanganna on Thomas Lands.

The accident occurred at the junction of J.B. Singh Public Road and Thomas Road, Georgetown, involving Minister Fox’s motor vehicle, PKK 8875, motor car HB 4065 and a GPHC ambulance.