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The 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The Report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.

The Report also explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success. These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.

There are several sections in this report:

• Executive summary
• Impact of the Zero Project: Survey results
• Innovative policies and practices: Factsheets and life stories
• The Zero Project Impact Transfer accelerator programme
• An analysis of ICT supporting innovations in inclusive education
• SDGs, Data and inclusive education
• Summary of report in Easy Read. 

Themes were:

• Early childhood and preschool
• Formal education (primary and secondary education)
• Universities (tertiary education)
• Vocational education and training
• Non-formal education
• ICT-driven solutions related to education/digital skills

This report was prepared by a team composed of disabilities experts, academics, representatives of disabilities organizations and other concerned organizations, and volunteers with disabilities. A common methodology was developed with friendly organizations and associations operating in the Kurdistan Region, in accordance with the UN Convention and sustainable development goals, as follows

1- Forming a steering committee consist of the Iraqi gathering of Iraqi Disabled Organizations (IGDO) and other relevant organizations

2- Reviewing national legislations, laws, regulations and strategies related directly and indirectly to the rights of persons with disabilities and their compatibility with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

3- Making sure that the report addresses all types of disabilities and covers all services, activities and areas without exception.

4- Making all the required efforts to insure that monitoring process includes positive and negative records concerning rights realization and sustainability.

5- Conducting a field survey of all activities of organizations of persons with disabilities.

6- Identifying gaps related to the rights of persons with disabilities.

7- Organizing a number of focus groups for different types of disabilities.

8- Providing the database of (IGDO) with data and information on persons with disabilities.

9- Conducting field visits to institutions and centers working in the area of disabilities.

10 - Making Interviews with experts, activists, representatives of governmental and international institutions and civil society organizations working in the field of disabilities in Iraq.

Research was carried out into progress in relation to eight of the SDGs (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 16 and 17)

“This easy-to-read version outlines countries’ development plans looking at how all people in the world can have a better life. The plans involve jobs and money, having a say, women and girls, making cities easier to live in, being clean and safe, coping when big problems happen and having access to information. A case study is also provided