Full statement here:
https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/iddc...
The International Disability and Development Consortium (IDCC), the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the Global Action on Disability (GLAD) Network and the Global Coalition for Education (GCE), call for the international community to commit to ensuring disability-inclusive quality education, including in early childhood, in global efforts to mobilise action ahead of the Transforming Education Pre-Summit (28th-30th June) and Summit (19th September). We call on the TES Secretariat, UN Member States, civil society partners and other education actors to ensure that the rights of children and youth with disabilities, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and the promise of Leave No One Behind are at the heart of discussions and outcomes of the TES. Education systems cannot be transformed to be inclusive without sufficient and targeted financing; accessible digital learning; supported education staff; and inclusive teaching approaches for lifelong learning and work.
1. A twin-track approach
A twin-track approach to disability inclusion which mainstreams inclusion as well as providing targeted support in general education settings to those at highest risk of exclusion must be implemented. This includes strong school-based support systems which provide reasonable accommodation and support learners with a diverse range of learning needs. Governments must dismantle structures of discrimination and marginalisation, including phasing out segregated and/or special education settings and ensure the provision of inclusive education which includes bilingual sign language schools.
2. Remove institutional and interlinking barriers
Inclusion and equity are cross-cutting principles that must be applied across all areas of education systems. For governments and other stakeholders joining the TES, this means the application of an intersectional lens across all Thematic Action Tracks to identify factors that lead to exclusion and inequality. For example, stakeholders considering the specific needs of migrant girls with disabilities in offline rural schools when developing equitable financing or digital learning options. Governments must prioritise addressing institutional barriers, while implementing inclusive policies across the whole education spectrum, from early childhood development to higher education and technical, vocation and education training (TVET), to ensure children and youth with disabilities are equipped to transition into employment. Political and financial action must address the multiple and intersecting barriers to learning and invest in evidence-based interventions that deliver transformative education for all.
3. Improve evidence and data
Education policy should be based on reliable evidence. This requires governments to urgently address gaps in data collection and analysis so the most marginalised are not invisible to policy makers. They must strengthen national data systems, surveys, and administrative systems by employing standard disability identification tools to increase the availability, quality and comparability of data, and build capacity to disaggregate data by sex, age, disability, geography and other intersecting dimensions. Disaggregated data must also inform the equitable allocation of resources.
4. Invest in inclusive teacher training
Inclusive education requires investments in pre- and in-service teacher training in disability inclusive pedagogy to ensure staff identify and adapt practices to meet diverse learning needs. To improve preparedness to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, training for teachers and school staff needs to include disability- sensitive approaches to distance-learning, using various channels and high-, low-, and no- tech solutions. Staff need to be supported in developing skills to effectively use digital technology in teaching. Additionally, governments should build evidence around the effectiveness of teaching by improving data collection and analysis on recruitment and retention of teachers, especially teachers from minority groups, female teachers and teachers with disabilities.
5. Tackle the digital divide and ensure technology is accessible
Education technology should include quality, accessible and affordable modes of digital and remote technologies and avoid over-reliance on single technology solutions. The pandemic exacerbated existing digital inequalities – whilst more than 90% of countries offered some form of distance learning, at least 31% of children were unable to benefit from this due to limited access to internet and technology, inaccessible tools, or lack of access to tools.9 In one survey 64% of respondents said that at least one of the platforms used for online education was inaccessible.10 Transforming education must also address gendered and 9 UNICEF (2020). Covid-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures? A global analysis of the potential reach of remote learning policies using data from 100 countries 10 https://www.internationaldisabilityalliance.org/sites/default/files/covi... ableist differences in access to digital learning through a disability-inclusive and genderresponsive approach to ICT development to reduce the digital divide11 .
6. Ensure adequate, sustainable, and equitable funding
Education transformation cannot be achieved without increased equitable and efficient financing. Investments into increasing the quality of education for children with disabilities can improve the overall standard of education and teaching for all learners.12 National education budgets should be protected and increased to universally agreed benchmarks, with considerations to the costs required when budgeting for inclusion. To embed the twintrack approach in education finance, inclusive budgeting must be adopted from the beginning. It is critical to recognise the cost effectiveness of budgeting for disability inclusion. This is true in terms of the return on investment (ROI) when children with disabilities can continue with their education and contribute to society13. It is also cost effective to plan for disability inclusion from the beginning, as the cost of retrospectively making schools more accessible after construction can be as much as 20% of the original cost14 .
7. Engage people with disabilities
The TES is an opportunity to engage a broad range of education actors, including persons with disabilities and their families, through multi-sectoral, intergenerational, and inclusive dialogue to identify realistic solutions. Organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), teachers with disabilities, and children and youth with disabilities, their families, and their networks are best placed to recommend inclusive best practices and must be meaningfully engaged in the preparatory processes, consultations, and outcomes of the TES. Ensuring their participation not only is key to developing and implementing relevant and sustainable solutions, but also an obligation under the CRPD.
Fulfil the commitments made to people with disabilities The UN’s Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) outlines the need to systematically embed the rights of persons with disabilities across all the work of the UN system. TES should ensure all its events, consultations, platforms, and forums (online and physical) are accessible to all. This should include accessibility features, such as sign language interpretation, captioning, and remote participation options, as well as access to reasonable accommodation to ensure people with disabilities can effectively participate. Earlier this year, we saw governments, donors and civil society partners make over two hundred commitments towards delivering inclusive education at the Global Disability Summit. As the international community comes together for the Pre-Summit, we call for these commitments to be honoured.
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