| UNESCO GLOBAL MONITORING REPORT on EDUCATION FOR ALL |
INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES |
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2009 “Overcoming inequality: why governance matters”
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- Disability is one of three main barriers to achieving universal primary education, along with child labour and ill health.
- Achieving EFA goals for children/youth with disabilities requires a cross-sector approach to policies and investments to address structural barriers for this group (e.g. lack of transportation, inaccessible schools, shortage of trained teachers, negative societal attitudes about disability).
- Governments are failing to adequately account for the barriers facing marginalized groups like children with disabilities.
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2008 “Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?”
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- The CRPD is recognized as an international human rights instrument relevant to EFA goals, however, Governments need to promote inclusive policies.
- Despite more children with disabilities getting included in education, the quality of their education is minimal because of lack of trained teachers.
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2007 “Strong foundations: Early childhood care and education”
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- EFA goals were created for all children but children with disabilities remain a marginalized group with many out of school.
- Estimates that more than one third of the 77 million children still out of school are children with disabilities. Estimates that in Africa, fewer than 10% of disabled children are in school.
- The report acknowledges the debate between ‘mainstream’ and ‘special’ education, but does not provide a comprehensive analysis of barriers.
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2006 “Literacy for Life”
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- The report refers to the high percentages of children with disabilities excluded from school as a main source of poor literacy. More appropriate curriculum is needed, but there are limited guidelines for combating exclusion.
- Disability is mentioned in the 9 EFA flagship programmes and the OECD has established 3 categories of disability
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2005 “Education for All: The Quality Imperative”
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- Inclusive education is a means of ‘Better Education for All' by focusing on the best environment for the learner. Greater implementation will require learning about best approaches and existing inequalities.
- Acknowledges that to reach EFA goals, greater attention needs to be given in reform efforts to children with multiple disadvantages, including children with disabilities.
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2003/2004
“Gender and Education for All: The leap to equality”
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- Girls with disability face high rates of exclusion from education.
- Families are the main support but have limited external assistance, and face stigmatization on the basis of a child's disability.
- There is an interconnected cycle of disability and poverty which must be taken into account in planning for inclusion of children with disabilities in education.
- The Right to Education for Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion – launched in 2002 as an EFA Flagship Initiative
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2002 “Education for All - Is the world on track?”
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- Children with disabilities “were among the issue discussed” in reference to achieving the Dakar goals.
- Disability incorporated into one of nine EFA Flagship Programmes “EFA and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Towards Inclusion” to bring a focus to disability.
- Acknowledges value of Amartya Sen's ‘capabilities' approach to development as the basis for expanding freedom. This approach recognizes that investments in education should be designed to develop people's capabilities, including unique capabilities affected by a person's disability. This means allocating resources depending on people's needs and what they require to maximize their developmental potential.
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