Education for All:Including Children with Disabilities

A part of article from education, the world bank.
An estimated 40 million of the 115 million children out of school have disabilities. The vast majority of these children have moderate impairments that are often not visible or easily diagnosed. Disabled children include those with learning difficulties, speech difficulties, physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional difficulties. Children with disabilities are likely to have never attended school. A 1991 report by the UN Rapporteur on Human Rights and Disabilities found that at least one in ten persons in the majority of countries has a physical, cognitive, or sensory (deaf/blind) impairment. Fewer than 5 % are believed to reach the EFA goal of primary school completion.
This number may be growing due to global conditions of increasing poverty, armed conflict, child labor practices, violence and abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Because these children are part of a family unit, it is estimated that at least 25% of the world population is directly affected by the presence of disability.
Disability may be the single most important factor excluding children from schooling; this means that the goal of EFA cannot be achieved simply by doing more of what we are already doing. Closing in on EFA will require new strategies to reach these children. Inclusive Education is one such strategy. It is based on the principle that all children should have the opportunity to learn, and that children learn best when they learn together. Inclusive Education programs equip
ordinary schools to recognize and respond to the needs of diverse students, including those who have traditionally been excluded—both from access to school and from equal participation in school. Inclusive Education focuses on the individual strengths that children bring to school rather than their perceived deficits, looking at whether children have the opportunity to take part in the normal life of the community or school, or whether there are physical and social barriers in the environment. Deaf and blind children will need teachers who can communicate in sign language and materials in Braille…for the vast majority of children with disability, it is the lack of schooling and not their disability that limits their opportunities.

Inclusive Education means that schools and teachers accommodate and respond to individual learners; this inclusiveness itself benefits the school, the teachers, and all students. It recognizes schools as communities of learners, education as a life-long pursuit, and the ultimate goal of healthy, productive citizens who contribute fully to the economic, social, and cultural life of countries, communities, and families.