From diversity to inclusion

THE EDITOR: Diversity defines the many ways we differ, including our individual uniqueness. These differences are not limited to the visible and unchangeable — age, ethnicity — but also encompass how and what we think. The virtue of diversity is pervasive, in team, company or country.

Inclusion entails capitalising on these distinct facets, in the common interest. It fosters involvement, respect, and connection, so that the rich reservoir of ideas, backgrounds and perspectives inherent in individuals can be employed to generate societal value.

This provides access to the multifaceted benefits of diversity for the enjoyment of all. Progressive, vibrant societies strive for both diversity and inclusion.

Moving from diversity to inclusion is more than a quest for harmony and tolerance, important as these are.

What is pertinent is the fortitude, justice, prudence and self-control to identify and acknowledge our diversity and constructively deliberate and resolve potential conflicts with intelligence and compromise. The intent is to demystify and fully embrace diversity, applying knowledge and understanding.

Where are we on this journey? Some five decades after independence, our education curriculum seems inadequate to the task of creating a citizenry capable of understanding the diverse nature of our society and nurturing the attitudes and behaviours, appropriate to this understanding.

Citizens are unsure of the agenda for creating an inclusive national culture that welcomes, appreciates and leverages the uniqueness of our backgrounds, beliefs, capabilities, talents and ways of living for learning and informing how we conduct our affairs. Civil society has a critical role here.

In our plural society, it is common and understandable to use numbers as a visual shorthand for measuring progress in dealing with diversity — headcount of female parliamentarians or “ethnic” public servants.

This is a quantitative proxy for tracking advances over time. Inclusion, though, focuses on quality: the nature of initiatives pursued to engender understanding and respect between people of different ethnicities, genders or religions; the types of programmes implemented to ensure equality and equity of access and treatment for all members of society; the kinds of assistance available to enable every citizen to contribute fully; and the appropriateness of interventions designed for harnessing the creativity and transformative power of diverse perspectives.

The objective is to transform culture, practices and relationships for the common good, as agreed by all.

The many virtues accruing from a truly inclusive environment include: a shared understanding across the societal divide; a considerably reduced tendency to stereotype individuals and communities; a plural society living and working in harmony, exhibiting excellence and productivity; opportunities so all can aspire to and achieve leadership and generations of citizens of character and virtue.

Getting numbers right does not ensure that these benefits automatically flow. We must work to unleash the untapped creativity, power and potential of our diversity. This is the profound challenge confronting the education system.

Rekindling the nation-building project demands urgent adoption of and adherence to an agenda which robustly counters the spiralling intolerance in our once tolerant society.

Our ability to attain genuine inclusion is indispensable to this endeavour.

WINSTON R RUDDER, Petit Valley