Inclusive Education & Access Proposed Outline of Thematic Working Group Report Brunei, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand & UNESCO Bangkok

Working Definition of Inclusive Education Including those excluded from learning, whether within or outside the school system, so they may receive quality education as part of ECCE, primary, secondary, and non-formal education programs

“4 A’s” of Inclusive Education 1. Availability: whether educational system is physically there 2. Accessibility: fees, regulations (citizenship), location (transport, safety); limitations deciphering whether child can access education 3. Acceptability: quality of education, acceptably meeting educational needs 4. Adaptability: ability to adapt to relevance and needs of child

Target Groups Children with special needs Working children Undocumented children/refugees Rural children Children in armed conflict situations and disaster areas Poor children Ethnic minority groups Girls (especially from rural/ethnic minorities) Children who are in conflict with the law (are even supposed to be educated outside the system)

Cross-Cutting Themes Chart Availability Accessibility Acceptability Adaptability Special Needs Rural Poor Ethnic Girls Working Stateless Problems with Law Conflict Areas

Major Challenges Faced Lack of infrastructure (especially in rural areas) Teachers not equipped to cater to needs of disadvantaged students Knowledge and Information Gaps on disadvantaged groups and unreached children Funding issues (even if education is free, there are associated underlying costs) Barriers due to language of instruction

“Good Practices” Language Practices of mother tongue or bilingual education generally occurring in all countries Bilingual program for ethnic minority children (Cambodia) Promoting teachers from ethnic groups identified at village level, trained and then distributed (Lao PDR) Textbooks available in Malay in the three southern provinces (Thailand)

“Good Practices” Outreach Teachers and communities have been trained to participate in ‘school mapping’ to identify the unreached children. The EFA committees at different levels were mobilized. (Cambodia, Lao PDR) Special education resource centers in every province for students and teachers to get special guidance when needed (Thailand) Adaptable alternative learning systems for more economically efficient, mobile schools—especially available to areas of conflict, children in special situations are reached out to in different ways (Philippines) Collaboration between Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health (Laos, Brunei) Village education development committees: gender parity in membership (Lao PDR)

“Good Practices” Funding: Targeted Financial Schemes Priority Action Program (PAP) Cambodia, program where government gives money to improve school performance Scholarship program for most disadvantaged and vulnerable students, as long as they attend and progress adequately (Cambodia) School feeding program (Cambodia, Lao PDR) Students Trust Funds and Student Voucher Scheme (Malaysia)

“Good Practices” Educational Flexibility “Emergency classes,” such as multi-credit classes, for over-age students who are off track, to decrease drop-out rates (Cambodia) Expansion and Integration of Special Needs Children Inclusive Education schools began in 2005 with 309 schools, and are now projected to reach 5,000 schools by 2008, with governmental funding (Thailand)

A few of many… Lessons Learnt Policy is ‘there’ but has not been implemented into reality: e.g. principals of inclusive schools are not willing to accept some students because they do not want to lower overall school performance (Thailand) Lack of resources, such as funding, well-trained teachers, general infrastructure, adequately catered teaching materials, etc… have prevented good practices from scaling up

Policy Recommendations “Education System Reform in the Bigger Picture: Catering to Specific Needs for Disadvantaged Groups” Policy Recommendations Shift the policy attention from those who are in school to those who are not in school. Introduce and promote the concept of “Child seeking schools” Mobilize/Allocate adequate resources to inclusive education, including alternative learning systems Inclusive linguistic policy for ethnic minorities: recognizing the importance of mother tongue Policy acknowledging and supporting teachers to adapt textbooks and documents from national language to local language in the classroom Targeted financial support to disadvantaged children and youth Eliminate direct and indirect school fees in basic education

Policy Strategy & Program Recommendations Strengthening school systems through better allocation of and increased resources: teachers, funds, materials, increasing accessibility for the unreached and responsive to their needs Strengthen partnerships between the government, community, NGOs, and the private sector to reach out to the excluded Mobilize a wide range of stakeholders in a coordinated manner at national level through a campaign More in-depth research to identify children excluded from schooling or learning; more systematic data collection; mapping; development of a database Study the impact of language of instruction on learning

Policy Strategy & Program Recommendations Provide incentives to teachers to work in rural areas. Training of teachers to teach children with special needs, bilingual education, etc… as well as development of materials that incorporate these needs Resource Centers to support teachers’ awareness and development of inclusive education Introducing/expanding alternative learning systems (e.g. Mobile Schools/distance learning) Create an effective monitoring system Introduce a more flexible school assessment system, with incentives, and recognition, for schools to develop and implement inclusive education principles

Thank you