This advocacy brief from the UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) and Leonard Cheshire draws attention to the main barriers to education for girls with disabilities, in the context of major opportunities for advocacy and tangible change in 2021. The recommendations outlined are targeted at world leaders, governments, ministries, UN agencies and NGOs. They offer a framework for rights-based action and principles towards gender-responsive and inclusive education, to ensure that no girls with disabilities are left behind.
This resource pack provides advice and guidance for parents and caregivers on how best to protect and support their children with disabilities during the COVID-19 outbreak
This paper was developed by the World Bank in partnership with Leonard Cheshire and Inclusion International. It is an attempt to add knowledge to the current understanding of the importance of learning achievements, with a focus on children with disabilities. While the premise is that inclusive education refers to the inclusion of all children, the focus of this paper is on children with disabilities.
The aim of the paper is to:
Provide an evidence-based review of educational participation of children with disabilities.
Establish a case for focusing on learning achievements for students with disabilities.
Take stock of current mechanisms of measurement of learning outcomes and review their inclusivity.
Explore evidence of practice and systems which promote disability-inclusive learning for all.
Four case studies are provided - from Pakistan, South Africa, Canada and UK.
Over the course of a three-year project the Leonard Cheshire Research Centre worked with research teams in four countries: Kenya, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zambia to better understand the relationship between disability and development in each country across four domains: education, health, labour markets and social protection. This mixed methods research used a range of interrelated components, including policy and secondary data analysis, a household survey of 4,839 households (13,597 adults and 10,756 children), 55 focus group discussions and 112 key informant interviews across the four countries.
This report explores key findings in relation to education. Key findings discussed include school attendance, cost of education, inability to learn and gap in educational attainment.
"The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and in particular Articles 24, 31 and 33, which requires countries to develop an inclusive education system for all children as well obliging them to implement and monitor the process, presents both a challenge and an opportunity to the countries of the world. This report discusses the advances that have been made in terms of the implementation of inclusive education system for people with disabilities, as well as the challenges that are still ahead. The UNCRPD requires ratifying countries to submit Country Reports on the implementation of the Convention to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The present report is unique in that it is based on a thorough analysis of these Country Reports. In addition, it is based on a thorough review of literature about inclusive education for people with disabilities"
This progress review aims to: provide a synthesis of the understanding of the additional barriers that girls with disabilities face in education; highlight effective or promising approaches and programmes addressing these barriers, including policies and legislation; point to gaps in evidence; and provide recommendations on a way forward. An internet search of relevant grey and academic literature on gender-responsive inclusive education was carried out. A search of websites of (inter) national non-governmental organisations, donors, and research institutions on the subject of gender-responsive inclusive education was conducted. In addition, requests for information on gender-responsive inclusive education interventions were submitted to platforms such as the Pelican Initiative and the Gender and Development Network UK. Subsequent referral to contact persons was followed up via email and phone with requests for sharing of studies, evaluations, progress reports, and other relevant documents of interventions.
Support and guidance for the report provided by UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)
This paper summarises education information disaggregated by age, gender and impairment gathered on children with disabilities in 268 schools in four districts in Mashonaland West Province (MWP), Zimbabwe, and outlines results from a survey given to parents, caregivers and teachers on knowledge, attitudes and practices. Findings highlighted a lack of training in inclusive education and the major barriers identified were a lack of assistive devices; distance to school and lack of transportation; cost; and human resource allocation. This research forms part of a three-year project led by Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe Trust to promote the provision of inclusive primary education for children with disabilities in that province and these findings provide the programme team with the possibility of adapting interventions and measuring changes over the duration of the project