Can inclusive education in South(ern) Africa survive the HIV and AIDS pandemic?

Abstract

Fagan (1986, p. 859) stated many years ago that ‘school psychology has survived the complex interaction between education and psychology, and will continue to do so in future’. Applied and adapted to South(ern) Africa of 2007, one may ask whether inclusive education will survive the complex interaction with the HIV and AIDS pandemic, and whether it will continue to survive in future? This paper focuses primarily on the impact of HIV and AIDS on the inclusive education classroom and suggests that certain dynamics entering the classroom will increase the demands on educators exponentially. It is concluded that successful inclusive education is in jeopardy in South(ern) African classrooms unless drastic measures are taken soon. A lapse to ‘inclusion by default’ is on the cards in the absence of these measures.