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At the core of the education system in Namibia lies the philosophical underpinning of inclusivity and its underlying principle of equal participation. Thus, to exclude any individual or societal group, directly or indirectly, from participation in education is tantamount to violating the primary meaning of democracy as it pertains to education. This assertion is consistent with the United Nation's SDG 4, which strives at ensuring “Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education and Promote Lifelong Opportunities for All,” and SDG 16, which is aimed to provide “Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.” Two ethnic groups in Namibia, the Ovahimba and the San, are regarded as marginalized, and this marginalization cuts across all spheres of their lives. This research-informed chapter provides an insight into experiences of children from indigenous communities in schools. It further presents an argument for culturally responsive approaches to counseling for learners from indigenous communities.

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Background: The Namibian constitution declares education as a fundamental right for every child, regardless of their learning abilities. Pre-independence, Namibia adopted separate special schools for learners with visual impairments. However, after independence inclusion in mainstream education system became one of the significant changes in educational reforms. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore challenges facing school management of an inclusive school for learners with visual impairments. Objectives: 1) To assess the perceptions of members of the school management on the inclusion of learners with visual impairments in a mainstream school. 2) To identify challenges the school management encounters in facilitating the inclusion of learners with visual impairments. 3) To provide measures that school management should put in place to address identified social and academic challenges. Methods: The paper employed a qualitative design. A stratified-purposive sampling technique was used to select sixteen ( 16) participants composed of a principal, three (3) heads of departments, six (6) teachers and six (6) learners who took part in this study. Interviews guide, still pictures and observation schedule were used as research instruments and a narrative analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: The study reveals that members of the school management are faced with challenges ranging from negative attitudes towards inclusion of learners with visual impairments, unwelcoming infrastructure, large classes, and lack of skills and instructional resources, curriculum restrictions, lack of targeted measures to ensure social and academic inclusion. Conclusion: The paper concluded that there are structural,

Namibia is home to a diverse population in terms of race, ethnicity, socio-cultural status, culture, language, religion, abilities, and tradition. Before independence, race was the main variable in determining the quality of education one would receive. Upon independence, Namibians where determined to do away with all forms of inequality in education by adopting the Education for All philosophy. Namibia is signatory to various international conventions including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Salamanca Declaration. The findings suggest that, even though school principals and teachers seemingly support inclusion, it could be deduced that they either have a limited understanding and far-fetched understanding of what inclusive education really means.