Inclusive Education Presentation to the Stammbach Foundation By Marc Schmidlin – Programme Coordinator Hannah Corps – Technical Advisor for Inclusive Education September 29 th 2006

Reality for the world’s children Extreme poverty Harsh environment - physical, social, economic & political Cultural beliefs and traditions about disability

Why ? 115 million children worldwide excluded from education 40 million of those are disabled Only 2%- 10% disabled children worldwide attend school (UNESCO estimate)...all children have a right to education

Global education context 1989UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990World Declaration on Education For All, Jomtien 1994World Conference on Special Needs Education (Access and Quality), Salamanca 2000World Declaration on Education For All, Dakar 2000Millennium Development Goal 2 Universal Primary Education by UN Convention on Rights of Disabled people 2006 (Education Article 24)

Moving forward towards inclusive education… Separate education systems Children changing to fit the system An inclusive system

Inclusive Education - Key messages IE is a process and goal towards Education For All… IE is about changing the school systems… IE is part of a broader goal towards an inclusive society…

Our activities with Communities Awareness raising to parents and community leaders Promote Self Advocacy groups for disabled and non disabled children

Our activities with Schools Making schools accessible Adapting teaching and learning resources

Our activities with Authorities Training teachers in schools and colleges Supporting Ministries of Education to develop inclusive policies

Learning from positive examples of Inclusive Education

Inclusive Education supported by the Stammbach Foundation ( 2005 – 2006) Project “Promotion of access to education for children with disability in Nicaragua”

Results

557 disabled children supported in 6 targeted special schools 163 disabled children included in 24 targeted mainstream schools

Each school provided with accessibility assessment

286 children identified for technical aids 32 children provided with adapted furniture and/or assistive devices

30 pedagogical counsellors and 14 pedagogical advisers trained and provide follow up to inclusive schools

430 teachers trained in 4 modules on inclusive education

30 schools, municipal and departmental MECD delegation provided with didactic and office materials and tools for child evaluations

432 disabled children receive psycho-pedagogical evaluations 114 disabled children benefit from curricular adaptations 50 disabled children follow individual learning plans

Increased recognition of parents of non disabled children and social and public actors of the rights to education for ALL children

Summary of Achievements with financial support from Stammbach Foundation 1422 Disabled children included in 30 schools 30 Accessibility assessments 30Schools receive evaluation materials and tools 318 Individual technical aids 44Trained Educational Advisors 430Trained teachers

 Brenda’s story… “I now have friends who play with me…” “My daughter’s life has changed completely…” “We welcome disabled children now because they have the same right to education as the others…” Brenda is 13 years old. She has a severe motor and visual impairment

Future Challenges Implementation of policies and regulations for disabled children to access schools Homogenisation of resource materials Continuous training for parents

Strengthening inclusive education in 30 schools : Objectives for 2007/8 Identification of disabled children out of school Appropriate inclusion of disabled children in schools Quality follow up of inclusive schools

Geographical extension 20 new schools 30 schools phase 1 Extend inclusive education to 20 new schools

Thank you Working together towards an Education for All!