WASHINGTON- Children with disabilities are being left behind by global efforts to improve education opportunities for all, as gaps between children with and without disabilities have increased dramatically in developing countries, according to new research from the World Bank and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) released ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
The study, Disability Gaps in Educational Attainment and Literacy, found that primary school completion for children with disabilities in 19 developing countries* is just 48 percent, and as many as three in ten children with disabilities have never been in school. The study, based on analysis of census data, also found that literacy rates and secondary school completion lag considerably behind: Only six in ten children with disabilities can read and write, and only a third complete secondary school.
"Ensuring that all children have the same opportunities to go to school and learn should be a top priority to end the persistent learning crisis. More than gender or socio-economic status, disability has an outsize impact on a childs opportunities to learn," said Quentin Wodon, World Bank lead economist and co-author of the study. "As we work with countries to increasingly invest in their people, its critical that children with disabilities are not left behind."The gaps between children with and without disabilities have increased substantially over the last 30 to 40 years. Children with disabilities have largely been excluded from efforts to improve education outcomes in the developing world. For example, despite high primary school enrollment in many of the countries covered by the report, the gap in primary school completion between disabled and non-disabled children stands at 15 percentage points for girls and 18 percentage points for boys.
The report demonstrates that these gaps are the result of exclusion associated with disabilities, as opposed to other characteristics of children that could be correlated with disabilities. The report also finds that children with intellectual or multiple disabilities tend to fare worse than children with physical disabilities or disabilities related to hearing, seeing, or speech. According to experts, access to school for children with disabilities is often limited by a lack of understanding about their needs, a shortage of trained teachers, as well as a lack of adequate facilities, classroom support and learning resources.
Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.
The study, Disability Gaps in Educational Attainment and Literacy, found that primary school completion for children with disabilities in 19 developing countries* is just 48 percent, and as many as three in ten children with disabilities have never been in school. The study, based on analysis of census data, also found that literacy rates and secondary school completion lag considerably behind: Only six in ten children with disabilities can read and write, and only a third complete secondary school.
"Ensuring that all children have the same opportunities to go to school and learn should be a top priority to end the persistent learning crisis. More than gender or socio-economic status, disability has an outsize impact on a childs opportunities to learn," said Quentin Wodon, World Bank lead economist and co-author of the study. "As we work with countries to increasingly invest in their people, its critical that children with disabilities are not left behind."The gaps between children with and without disabilities have increased substantially over the last 30 to 40 years. Children with disabilities have largely been excluded from efforts to improve education outcomes in the developing world. For example, despite high primary school enrollment in many of the countries covered by the report, the gap in primary school completion between disabled and non-disabled children stands at 15 percentage points for girls and 18 percentage points for boys.
The report demonstrates that these gaps are the result of exclusion associated with disabilities, as opposed to other characteristics of children that could be correlated with disabilities. The report also finds that children with intellectual or multiple disabilities tend to fare worse than children with physical disabilities or disabilities related to hearing, seeing, or speech. According to experts, access to school for children with disabilities is often limited by a lack of understanding about their needs, a shortage of trained teachers, as well as a lack of adequate facilities, classroom support and learning resources.
Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.
