The Department of Education will soon roll out the ‘Inclusive Education Model Schools’ in the country. These model schools targeting the inclusive education sector are being piloted in five schools in three provinces – Simbu, Eastern Highlands and East Sepik. These schools are Faniufa and Kassam Primary Schools in Eastern Highlands Province, St. Josephs Primary School in Simbu and St Lourdes and Kaindi Demonstration Primary Schools in East Sepik Province. Consultations for this project began in June 2020 by the Teacher Education Division and was supported and funded by Christian Blind Mission – New Zealand through Callan Services National Unit. It is intended to make all mainstream schools and institutions inclusive for all learners. This information was provided to the Senior Education Officers Conference in Kavieng this morning by the Assistant Secretary for Teacher Education in the Department of Education, Mr. Allan Jim. An inclusive school means all children must learn together in the same classroom and in the same school. Different and diverse students learn side by side in the same school and infrastructures must be inclusive considering all forms of disabilities. Teachers in both the mainstream and Inclusive Education Resource Centres (IERC) were called upon to work together in making sure teaching and learning is inclusive for all learners. The challenges that led to the initiation and piloting of these model schools include: · Lack of support from inclusive resource centres teachers when they visit mainstream schools to support both teachers and students on a daily basis. · Minimum support from the mainstream schools’ administrators, teachers, Board of Management, parents and peers to facilitate teaching and learning. · The mainstream school environment and teaching and learning resource are not conducive and welcoming for children with special needs. · Curriculum activities and career pathway are focused on the academic results and not considering the ability of students with special needs. Currently, there are 23 Inclusive Education Resource Centres with 160 teachers in the country. These centres are not located within the vicinity of mainstream schools. Students with special needs are integrated into different mainstream schools The Secretary for Education Dr, Uke Kombra has encouraged the Department to work together with every stakeholder to institutionalize inclusive education into the school system. This may take some time however; he said that this concept will ensure that all children are given a fair opportunity to get an education as a normal child. He also urged schools to use their Government Tuition Fee Subsidy funding to refurbish existing infrastructure in the schools so that they are friendly for students with disabilities.