A global campaign to ensure that boys and girls who are visually impaired enjoy their right to education was launched in July 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The campaign was initiated by the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI), of which CBM is a member, and World Blind Union during the 12th ICEVI World Conference.

The campaign places special focus on developing countries, where, according to UNESCO, currently only an estimated 10% of children with visual impairment attend school. The campaign aims to reach children who are blind, have limited vision, children who are deafblind, and children with multiple disabilities.

Achieving universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals adopted by all nations. This goal can only be met when children with disabilities are included in the efforts. Thus, a guiding principle of the campaign is that girls and boys with visual impairment should be included in the general education system with appropriate support to their specific needs. The campaign will be implemented in the framework of general and special education systems of selected pilot countries, as a start.

The campaign does not only aim at facilitating the service provision. It also focuses on creating a demand for education of children with visual impairment, and therefore works together with together with the parents, organisations of the blind and other NOGs and the community.

The following measures should contribute to enrolling more children with visual impairment in the school systems of developing countries:

• advocacy,
• early detection, and early intervention;
• capacity building for general and specialised classroom teachers;
• and the development of child-centred curricula.

Apart from formal education, the campaign also addresses the acquisition of life-oriented skills and consideration of social needs of the children. An integral part of the campaign will be research activities to generate empirical data that will be of benefit for the development of new programmes.

CBM has been actively involved in formulating the concept for the campaign and will continue working with the task force to set up a detailed plan of action. CBM’s contribution to the education of children with visual impairment includes the support of 229 education and rehabilitation programmes for persons with visual impairment in 2005.

However, CBM’s responsibility reaches beyond providing education services; in order to protect the more than 15,000 children with visual impairment in CBM-supported programmes from violence and abuse, CBM has put into practice a Child Protection Policy.

Read more: Education of Persons with Visual Impairment
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External Links: ICEVI Website