CBM and Partners Call on Governments to Commit to Inclusive Quality Education

A woman is standing behind two girls. One girl is using braille and the second girl is reading a book

Husniya is a student at Inclusive School for the Blind in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She gets support from her teacher to write with Braille. The school is supported by CBM.
©CBM

Allocate sustainable financing for inclusive education so that all children with disabilities can learn.

The UN Transforming Education Summit on 19 September is an important opportunity to put learners with disabilities at the centre of efforts to transform education systems, policies and financing.

As part of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC), CBM, together with the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Global Action on Disability network (GLAD) and the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), is calling on policy and decision makers attending the Summit to act now to ensure that children with disabilities can exercise their right to quality education. Member organisations want to ensure that Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education, can be achieved by 2030. And here is why this is important to persons with disabilities.

One in ten boys and girls (240 million) in the world live with a disability. Yet children with disabilities around the world are often excluded from efforts to provide inclusive, quality education for all. They are among those less likely to attend or complete school and more likely to be illiterate than children without disabilities.

“Before the pandemic children with disabilities were already among the most excluded from learning with nearly 49% worldwide likely to never have attended school. The shift to remote learning has meant even less access for many and had devastating impacts in terms of the additional benefit of being in a school environment. This is why we have come to together to insist that children with disabilities must be included in the pandemic recovery plans and long term vision for education.”
Dom Haslam, chair of IDDC.

We call on world leaders and decision-makers to do their homework:

  1. Sociology: Include children with disabilities in mainstream education and collect data that includes everyone.
  2. Invest: Increase investment in inclusive training so that teachers can respond to diverse learning needs and develop flexible curriculums for all children.
  3. Politics: Implement policies, plans and budgets to include support for children with disabilities.
  4. Digital Learning: Tackle the digital divide and ensure digital learning and other education technologies are accessible for all.
  5. Finance: Allocate sustainable financing for inclusive education so that all children with disabilities can learn.
  6. Engage: Involve people with disabilities in all stages of inclusive education design and make sure their voices are heard.

Get involved

  • Read a brief summary of the statement by IDDC, IDA, GLAD and GCE call for the international community to commit to ensuring disability-inclusive quality education, including in early childhood, in global efforts to mobilise action ahead of the Transforming Education Summit (TES) this September.
  • Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, we address our questions to world leaders and decision-makers in the run-up to the Summit. Share them and tag relevant political leaders and stakeholders.
  • Read our five tips for redesigning quality inclusive education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Download our Inclusive Education Training Guide