Inclusive Education
Despite concerted efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education and the goal of Education For All by 2015, a significant number of children remain out of school. Efforts to achieve these goals will only be successful if they focus more strategically on those groups of children that are systematically excluded from receiving an education. Chief among these are disabled children.
Currently 77 million children are out of school, and one-third of these children are disabled[1]. In fact only 2% of disabled children in developing countries receive an education. Disability has a greater impact on chance of participation in education than gender, household economic status or rural/urban divide[2]. However, the specific issue of disabled children and education has yet to be proactively addressed by the G8 leaders and all other donors. They can help redress the situation by committing to supporting the rights of disabled children in national education planning and policy, and by working with developing countries to promote international efforts on inclusion of disabled children.
Micah Challenge calls on G8 nations to:
- Build developing country confidence in the Fast Track Initiative by immediately covering the current funding shortfall and by committing to cover identified shortfalls for a further four-year period.
- Ensure that those donors who have not yet reached their fair share of overall funding for basic education should commit to reach this level by 2008 at the latest, when an additional 40 countries are likely to be able to significantly expand their basic education programs.
- Develop 10-year funding arrangements with partner developing countries, which contribute to both establishment and recurrent costs. Developing countries need long-term aid commitments if they are to greatly expand their school programmes – without a commitment to long term recurrent funding developing country governments will be very reluctant to recruit and train teachers.
- Ensure donor programmes promote inclusion. Special emphasis should be given to eliminating barriers to equal participation in a free, quality primary education by groups with lower levels of access and completion. Chief among these are disabled children.
Ensure funding for basic education should form part of an integrated approach by donor countries to help ensure education for all by also supporting early childhood programmes, literacy training and the secondary and vocational education needs of people in developing countries.
[2] Filmer, D. (2005) Disability, Poverty and Schooling in Developing Countries: Results from 11 Household Surveys, World Bank Discussion Paper.
