Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) has produced a summary of content related to disability and education from their reports dating back to 2010. This summary provides background to those aiming to take part in the ongoing online consultation for the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion and education.
The summary gives ten key messages with accompanying evidence:
- Most countries have committed to protect the right to education for people with disabilities, which offers a basis for accountability.
- But assessing compliance with this right is complicated by blurred definitions and a lack of monitoring mechanisms.
- Organizations of persons with disabilities, as well as families and communities, can play a significant role in monitoring country commitments to the right to education.
- There is a lack of concrete data showing the true scale of disabilities worldwide and its link to education, although this should improve soon.
- We know that marginalization is more acute for children with disabilities.
- A relatively larger share of children with disabilities live in poorer countries.
- Children with disabilities are less likely to attend and complete primary school
- Those with disabilities are more likely to be without basic literacy skills
- Disability intersects with other disadvantages to exacerbate children’s disadvantage.
- Poverty is both a potential cause and a consequence of disability
- Girls and those in conflict with disabilities can be especially vulnerable.
- Different disabilities create very different education-related challenges
The summary also lists ten recommendations on education policies highlighted in previous GEM Reports as being able to counteract marginalization caused by disabilities:
- Governments should fulfil Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities commitments to set up mechanisms for coordination, independent monitoring, enforcement, complaint and reparation.
- Measuring progress in education for children with disabilities requires also having measures based on nationally representative household surveys, rather than only on children who are in school.
- Governments should develop inclusive curricula to help break down barriers faced by children with disabilities in the classroom.
- Separating children from their peers or families is detrimental to their development and potential.
- Teachers must be supported with training and pedagogical tools to reach children with special needs.
- More teachers with disabilities should be hired.
- Multiple sectors should provide early childhood services to reach children comprehensively.
- Approaches to support people living with disabilities should involve the community to alleviate societal barriers to progress.
- Countries should enforce minimum standards on school accessibility for children with disabilities.
- Additional funds are required to meet the education needs of children with disabilities.
The publication highlights the low funding of public education which is leading to its decline and consequent growth in privatisation of education. The study also focuses on the private schools’ failure to follow the norms and regulations set out by the Nepali Constitution, as well as the government’s failure to ensure the implementation of these requirements. It also warns that private schools are leading to greater segregation and gaps within the society, between rich and poor, and boys and girls.
The 51-page report, “‘Without Education They Lose Their Future’: Denial of Education to Child Asylum Seekers on the Greek Islands,” found that fewer than 15 percent of more than 3,000 school-age asylum-seeking children on the islands were enrolled in public school at the end of the 2017-2018 school year, and that in government-run camps on the islands, only about 100 children, all preschoolers, had access to formal education. The asylum-seeking children on the islands are denied the educational opportunities they would have on the mainland. Most of those who were able to go to school had been allowed to leave the government-run camps for housing run by local authorities and volunteers.
This report tells the stories of some of the world’s 7.4 million refugee children of school age under UNHCR’s mandate. In addition, it looks at the educational aspirations of refugee youth eager to continue learning after secondary education, and highlights the need for strong partnerships in order to break down the barriers to education for millions of refugee children.
Education data on refugee enrolments and population numbers is drawn from UNHCR’s population database, reporting tools and education surveys and refers to 2017. The report also references global enrolment data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics referring to 2016.
This paper highlights key concluding observations adopted between September 2014 and November 2017 by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) regarding the role of private actors in education in Ghana, Chile, Morocco, Uganda, Kenya, Philippines and Brazil. These add to more than 50 other concluding observations previously issued by these committees on the topic.
The Right to Education Initiative's Annual Report 2017 includes information about us, the activities we have undertaken as well as our key achievements and impacts in four thematic areas: Privatisation and human rights; Monitoring of the right to education; Education 2030; and the right to education of migrants.
This is the first edition of the CESCR Yearbook for 2017. This annual publication provides a concise overview of the accomplishments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Right’s each year. The first edition covers the Committee’s work in 2017.
Attacks on education by the insurgent group Boko Haram have caused horrific and long-term suffering for female students and teachers in northeastern Nigeria. Boko Haram has abducted over 600 girls and young women from school during the nine-year conflict, with some held in captivity for years, and many experiencing harmful repercussions long after they return home.
The 106-page report, “‘I Will Never Go Back to School’: Impact of Attacks on Education for Nigerian Women and Girls,” is based on interviews with 119 victims and eyewitnesses of attacks on schools and education, including survivors of the three largest school abductions in Nigeria: Chibok (April 2014), Damasak (November 2014), and Dapchi (February 2018). Women and girls speak out about their terrifying experiences, including forced conversion to Islam, forced “marriage,” rape, and other physical and psychological violence, in the report.
The UNESCO Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) has just published six case studies from Asia and the Pacific to inspire and inform open school data policies in and beyond the region, and to empower citizens to fight corruption in education.
The case studies look at a range of school report card initiatives (both government-led and citizen-led) to create a new evidence base for more informed policy-making on how to use school-related data to create a more transparent and accountable education system.
They look at who publishes school data, what type of data is published, and the level of accessibility and use by various stakeholders. Each case study also draws from a survey of some 250 school-level actors to understand how users of school data currently interact with various school report card initiatives. The case studies conclude with a number of recommendations for more effective school report card design and implementation.