JBS Vol 15. Num 2. 2013 - “Inclusive Education” In Bangladesh: Accounting For the Friction Between Policy and Practice

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the ideological friction between the policy and practice of “inclusive education” in Bangladesh. Despite the government’s stated commitment to a human rights agenda, its post-independence reliance on patron-client relationships—and public/private partnerships in more recent times—has weakened its ability to implement strong reform. As we argue here, the adoption of a nonliberal form of economic rationality throughout the goods and services sector of Bangladesh has meant that the philosophy of “progress” now sits completely at odds with the philosophical premises of “inclusion.” Despite the “impossibility” of enacting a “thick” theory of inclusion in Bangladesh, we nonetheless argue that it is possible to “thicken” the “thin” theory that has arisen by default. The problem of creating a new culture of mutual respect—rather than indifference—is a broader cognitive-perspectival problem that requires an entire reassessment of our relational and valuational sensibilities (Hill 2007).