Special Education Needs of Children Belonging to Minority - Case Study Example

Introduction This paper addresses the major and internationally recognised issue of special education needs of children belonging to minority. The case taken is that of a two year old girl at a care centre in New Zealand who in relation to being born to South African emigrant parents also has major development issues. The paper also highlights on the important aspects of culture with special examples of the Indian Rajasthani culture and the effect that Pakeha culture has on the education system in New Zealand and how the minority children suffer because of it. What Culture is? Culture has many definitions. Lots of scholars and anthropologists have given various schools of thought about culture and its meaning. The two most accepted and popular ones are: “Culture is the measuring rod of civilization” (Chinmayanand, 2008, p-13). According to him, culture helps one distinguish between a civilised nation and a barbarous one. A culture takes shape when a set of people stay in a geographical area for a long period of time, adhering to a certain set of values and philosophies. It is said that the things that make up a culture are the invention of human mind, so human element is inseparable from culture, as a culture is inseparable from the existence of an individual or society. In the above sense, a culture is said to be the defining force behind a nation’s identity, its individuality. It shapes its language, art, religion and history and it reflects in each citizen of the nation, irrespective of whether he received formal education in the universities and schools of the nation or not (Chinmayanand, 2008, p-13). Another perspective puts culture in the light as something which is acquired, and is not inherent. It does not stand for untended growth, but careful cultivation. It remains to be the responsibility of the universities and other institutions to preserve the culture of a nation, of a community (Scruton, 2007). But something that needs must mention here is that culture is not a singular phenomenon, but it’s a collective entity. Since the days of colonization to the present era of globalization, intermingling of cultures and the cultural conflict has been rampant. The direct offset of this has been the emergence of one culture as being in majority in a geographic region and several other cultures being in minority The culture which is in majority has a remarkable influence on the social fabric as well as the education system of the country. Most of the industrialised nations of the world, with diversity as a prominent culture have been successful in devising a system of education that does not envisages the prominence of the culture in majority or does not suppresses the minority. Describe an Indian Culture No other nation in the world boasts of such a rich amalgamation of such diverse cultures as does India.. Some of the most dominant cultures and communities are Hindu, Hellenic, Islamic, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, Bahai etc. Those named before are unique on the grounds of religious beliefs. When it comes to geographical divisions within the country, there emerge as many as 29 distinct cultures as there are states and territories and distinguishing one from another would have becomes very difficult had it not been for the distinction in attire, dialect, cuisine and other traditions. Rajasthani or Rajput or the warrior tribe of the country reside in the State of Rajasthan in the north-western region of the country. Their main characteristics are marked by loud vibrant coloured costumes and a spirit which cannot be dominated. Folk music is an important part of Rajasthani culture and songs are used to tell the tales of battles, warriors and martyrs. The principle dances of the region are Ghoomar and Kalbeliya and are popular globally. In fact, the females in the tribal regions here have songs and dances to celebrate even the most mundane chores of life like drawing water from the well or embroidering a table cloth (Bakshi & Gupta, 2008). The principle religion in some parts of the region is Hinduism and other part is Islam. The locals worship major Hindu deities and celebrate Hindu festivals with great pomp and show. The festival unique to the region is ‘Gangaur’ which is celebrated in the month of April. Perhaps, the first things that come to mind when one talks of Rajasthani culture and its warriors, are the grand forts, fortresses and palaces. They are the symbol of the royalty that ruled the land once and the numerous battles fought here. The main dress for the men comprises a turban, a long coat and a join dress. But this was worn in olden days and now it used by only senior citizens. The main dress for the ladies consists of a long, embroidered skirt, a short blouse and a 2 and ½ yards long sheet that is worn from head and tucked in where the petticoat covers the navel. The sheet is also used as a veil to cover the head and the face when facing the elder members of the clan. The Muslims in the region wear dresses that are typical of their caste but surprisingly, the system of veil or ‘burqah’ is not strictly observed in the region (Bakshi & Gupta, 2008). Both men and women wear heavy ornaments, as befitting their status in the society. The people who wear gold around their ankles are usually considered to be the most honourable people in the region. There is also a tradition to name the newly born after the gods and goddesses of the Hindu Mythology and the heroes and martyrs of the region. In fact, females are also named after beautiful, delicate flowers and sweet meats. There were a lot of customs that were condemned early on and finally prohibited during the last 300 years. These customs included Johar, where maidens burnt jumped into fire in order to save their maidenly pride when a kingdom fell; Sati, where the widow of a man sat with him in his funeral pyre; child marriage and female foeticide. Girl education is not given much priority, though with changing times and at the insistence of the Education ministry, reservations and incentives are being offered to the families in order to send their girl child to the school (Bakshi & Gupta, 2008). How Pakeha culture influences the New Zealand education system and the effect this can have on learners from minority cultures? There are two principal tribes in the country. The native inhabitants of New Zealand are known as Maori. They are the original inhabitants of the nation and have survived the woes of colonization. They have a distinct culture of their own. The colonization bought Europeans, Americans and even South Africans (though in smaller proportion) to the mainland and all these non-Maori people are referred to as belonging to Pakeha tribe. There is a Pakeha majority in the country as 64% of the population belongs to the Pakeha culture. The Maori have been marginalised in as much as they constitute only 19% of the overall population. Therefore, there is a significant Pakeha influence in all the major domains of the national life such as political, economic and religious. The education system of the country also became pre-dominantly of Pakeha culture. Because they were the policy makers and the key decision takers, they so-moulded the system so as to endorse their own culture and marginalise other cultures (Garcia, 1982). The worst hit was the Maori culture and the children of the Maori parents who found themselves at a loss in the strange environment. “High and disproportionate levels of academic under-achievement are experienced by Maori pupils compared to the performance levels of Pakeha students” (Smith, 1999). The education system is mainly based on and controlled by the people belonging to Pakeha middle class. Almost all the teachers and the administrators belong to Pakeha culture and are thus over-zealously pursue the task of setting up their culture in the schools. The Maori language is soon disappearing and the Maori people also need to learn English in order to enter and be a part of the workforce. In the absence of a friendly, known culture and the values at schools, a lot of these Maori students found it hard to adjust and learn and were termed as academic failures because they could not cope up with their Pakeha counterparts (Garcia, 1982). In fact, “ Maori as a cultural group and the indigenous population of New Zealand occupy the ‘worst case scenario’ with regard to almost all negative social statistics; high levels of unemployment, poor housing conditions, high incarceration rates, significantly higher incidence of life threatening diseases, much lower average levels of income, high levels and widespread educational under-attainment etc” (Smith, 1999). Basically, the policies of Pakeha with respect to the educational system were that of assimilation that is merging the minority cultures into one dominant culture of theirs by discouraging their cultural practises. But, this policy led to higher rate of fall-out in the kids from the minority culture and as a result, they were termed as “culturally disadvantaged” or “culturally deprived”. These problems were detected as early as 1981, but then the steps taken by the state education ministry did not succeed. 4. The culture of a South African child with special needs living in New Zealand who is from a minority group and how she is affected by her culture. The child under the case study is a two year kid born to South African parents. As apparent, she belongs to the minority culture. In addition to the cultural problems faced at the child care centre she attends in New Zealand, she also has special needs. There are development and other milestone issues and the child is dependent for almost all the physical purposes. She does not walk be herself or interact in English or her own native language. Though she is not considered as a dyslexic, there are considerable issues in all areas of development. The major problem faced in teaching her arises because of her failure to understand either of the languages. Her parents are white emigrates from South Africa but the girl under question was born and bought up in New Zealand. She has a sound knowledge of alphabets and can recognize them easily but is not able to pronounce them. The phonetics is one major area that needs to be worked on. As per mathematics, she recognises numbers up to 10. When it comes to recognising the objects from day to day life, her cognition fails her. She is not able to give the correct name for fruits, trees, fan or chair but when asked about common body parts, she points out to the corresponding body organs, indicating a sharp intellect there. She doesn’t interact much but as such is peaceful and a co-operative child. But she doesn’t readily talk to mingle with other kids at the day centre. She attends 5 days a week, for 8 hours each day. In total, she attends the day centre for 40 hours a week. The teachers and the staff at the day centre majorly belong to Pakeha culture but are sensitive to her needs and shortcomings. The other kids at the day care centre also belong to Pakeha with the exception of a few. 5. Use the information in number 4 to provide an education that is relevant, meaningful, affirming and effective for this child.  This is a case of child from a minority culture with special education needs. In addition to the policies made up by the ministry of education regarding the biculturalism at school and universities, special steps also need to be taken by the management and the teachers at the day care centres in order to ensure proper growth and schooling of the two year child. “The Education Act 1989 legislates for equal rights to primary and secondary education - "People who have special educational needs (whether because of disability or otherwise) have the same rights to enrol and receive education in state schools as people who do not." (Ministry of Education) So, it is not at all suggested that the child be put in some other school which specialises in providing assistance and education to the children with special needs. This will only lead to her seclusion from the society and make her more conscious of herself. This is because ultimately she will have to come out in the society and be a part of it. Also sending her to centres where her own culture is predominantly adhered to will be a bad practise because ultimately she will become a part of the New Zealand society as a whole. Attempts need to be made such that she learns quickly and steadily and her education and care does not lead to problems for her in future. As the first step, the teachers and the staff attending the child should be made aware of her culture because barring the 8 hours spent at the centre, rest 16 hours are spent at home, amongst her own people who follow a culture which is distinct from that of the centre. The alien culture gives a sense of foreboding to the child and the child tends to cocoon up. If the staff and the teachers become sensitive to her cultural as well as special needs, half the battle is won. Then comes the devices and mechanisms for enabling quick and better understanding. As stated earlier, though the child cannot speak properly, she recognises body organs and alphabets well. The thing that will work here will be teaching through a lot of pictures that she recognises and then establishing connections between and the new ones which are to be taught. Cartoons, videos and animated designs can be used. Lots of bright colours and figures can be used because despite cultural difference, colours hold attraction for all the children. Moreover, she should be allowed to mingle with the other children at the centre and not held back. Though care should be taken to prevent her from being bullied or outcast. We also need to remember that the child has linguistic differences and not linguistic deficiency. But in the current case, the child doesn’t speak English as well as her native Afrikan language. In this respect, co-ordination should be made with parents so as to grasp her level of understanding of her own native language. If she understands it better than English, then the service of translators can be used who can direct her towards learning English with the knowledge of her native language, as much as she understands. Conclusion Throughout the paper, it was seen that the culture plays a very crucial role in the functioning of the education and academic machinery in a country or a region. In today’s globalised world, the ultimate woes of multiculturalism are faced by the people belonging to minority culture, as irrespective of the policies formulated by administrators, the day to day execution of these is held by the people belonging to the middle and upper middle class of the culture in majority. This adds to the problem of the children with special needs as they become acutely aware of their special needs as well as the cultural differentiation. In such a scenario, it becomes very important for the teachers to be sensitive to the cultural as well as the special needs of the children at school and at day care centres, as the need may be. There are various ways in which it can be done and the least that can be done towards this end is that no special emphasis should be placed on the promotion of a single culture in the institution. Works Cited Bakshi, S. G. (2008). Studies In Indian History. New Delhi: Sarup and Sons. Chinmayananda, S. (2008). Kindle Life . Chennai: Chinmaya Mission Trust. Education, M. o. (2010, Jan 20). Ministry of Education-New Zealand Special Education Policy. Retrieved June 21, 2010, from Ministry of Education : http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/SpecialEducation/PolicyAndStrategy/SpecialEducationPolicy.aspx Garcia, R. (1982). Teaching in a pluralistic society: Concepts, models, strategies. New York: Harper Row. Metge, J. (1990). Te kohao o te ngira. Culture and learning. Wellington: Learning Media. Scruton, R. (2007). Modern Culture . Chicago: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. Read More