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London, UK, January 19, 2010
UNESCO's annual
Global Monitoring Report on Education for All, "Reaching the Marginalized",
released today, warns that the global economic downturn risks creating a
generation of children whose lives have been irreparably damaged by being
denied their right to education and identifies children with disabilities as
amongst the most vulnerable.
"The key
message to emerge is that failure to place inclusive education at the centre of
the EFA agenda is holding back progress".
The report describes an "inclusive education triangle" consisting of the learning environment, accessibility and affordability and entitlements and opportunities and recognizes that for quality education governments need to revise their approaches to teaching, learning and curriculum development. It also points out that "ability groupings", or streaming students according to academic achievement seldom help the marginalized.
Several of the recommendations in this 2010 report are
consistent with recommendations contained in Inclusion International's recent
global report on inclusive education "Better Education for All When We're Included
Too" published by the University of Salamanca Spain and released last
November. These include:
- setting equity
targets for all EFA goals
- gathering better data on those children who are not
in school or who leave school early and why
- mobilizing international cooperation
- improving cooperation amongst ministries
Diane Richler, President of Inclusion International
commented, "We are pleased to see UNESCO recognize that unless education
systems are transformed to include all children, including children with
disabilities, the goals of Education for All can never be reached." However, the report fails to address the fact
that in many countries social ministries rather than Ministries of Education
are responsible for children with disabilities.
"Until there is one ministry and one school system responsible for all
children, inclusive education will remain a dream." she said.
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For more information contact:
Connie
Laurin-Bowie, Executive Director, Inclusion International
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