Inclusion International is testing a tool designed to help humanitarian organizations build their capacity on the inclusion of children with disabilities in education during emergency situations. The learning tool is currently in its pilot phase. During the pilot phase, users will be invited to fill out a form to share their thoughts about the tool without sharing their names. The project team want to know if the tool is easy to use and helpful for learning. This feedback will help the project team improve the tool so it works better for everyone, both now and in the future.
[Blog] Moving from intention to action on disability inclusion in education
At the Global Disability Summit 2025, education partners reemphasized their commitment to ensuring quality education for girls and boys with disabilities. In this blog from the Global Partnership for Education, the authors reflect on how agencies can take action to accelerate progress towards inclusive education. They give four recommendations: embed inclusion from the start, support the collection and uptake of data and evidence, support equitable financial allocations, and engage diverse voices.
[Webinar] Inclusive Futures: Finding and enrolling children with disabilities in schools
Date: 13 May 2025.
Time: 12:30 – 1:15pm BST.
Location: Online.
Over the summer months, Inclusive Futures together with their funder, UK Aid, are hosting three lunchtime webinars to share practical learning about what works from working with INGOs, organisations of people with disabilities, and government partners to build inclusion into existing education plans and policies.
The first webinar on 13 May, will focus on finding and enrolling children with disabilities in schools. It will take an in-depth look at Nepal, where an Inclusive Futures project has strengthened government-run identification campaigns to increase numbers of children with disabilities enrolled in schools.
[Course] Teaching English: Inclusive classrooms (Free British Council course)
The British Council is offering various free courses for English language teachers. The “inclusive classrooms” course is a self-study training course, which is divided into three-hour modules. The course is free. It also includes a dedicated Facebook community and a free workbook.
“Inclusive classrooms” is open from 2 April to 30 September 2025. Enrol until 23 September.
[Report] Banned from education: A review of the right to education in Afghanistan
A new UNESCO report examines the alarming state of the right to education in Afghanistan.
It provides an analysis of the evolving legal and institutional framework governing education since August 2021, drawing on a combination of desk-based research and on-the-ground interviews.
The report was launched in the wake of the High-Level Conference on Women and Girls in Afghanistan organized by UNESCO on 7 March. The systematic restrictions on girls and women have made Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are barred from education beyond the primary level.
[Blog] Nizar’s New Beginning. UNICEF Learning Centres, Syria
This blog tells the story of Nizar, who was injured in the Syrian civil war when he was five years old. Now a 15-year-old teenager, his injury means that it is difficult for him to access education.
“School, which should have been a place of safety, only intensified his struggles. Bullied for his disability, he was left feeling misunderstood and alone.”
Then his mother heard about an UNICEF learning center and enrolled him there.
“At the centre, Nizar found himself in a welcoming, supportive learning environment for the first time. With a teacher who cared deeply, classmates who treated him kindly and a curriculum tailored to bridge his learning gaps, he was given a chance at a fresh start.”
Syria remains one of the most complex humanitarian crises in the world. The armed conflict, which lasted over a decade, has not only disrupted the education of millions of girls and boys but has also exposed them to horrendous violence and ongoing protection risks.
[Article] The International Review of Education: A history
UNESCO is celebrating 70 years of publication of the ‘International Review of Education’ (IRE), the longest-running international journal of comparative education in the world.
UNESCO has published an interesting history timeline (Note: unfortunately the journal’s articles are for subscribers only).
“Anti-capitalist demonstrations at the end of the 1960s sparked much debate about the role of education in supporting social progress.”
“Women’s education grew in prominence as a topic across the 1970s and 1980s.”
“UNESCO’s lifelong learning perspective became increasingly marginal, as this instrumentalist turn in thinking about education took effect, and the lens through which learning was viewed became increasingly economistic. A 1998 issue focused on ‘the global trend towards the instrumentalization of education as a means of preparation for employment above all other purposes’. This was a recurrent theme over the following two decades.”
“With the world facing new challenges, from artificial intelligence to democratic backsliding and political disinformation, as well as familiar ones such as climate change, conflict and inequality, lifelong learning has never been more important.”
[Report] Global Disability Inclusion Report 2025
The ‘Global Disability Inclusion Report: Accelerating Disability Inclusion in a Changing and Diverse World’ was developed specifically for the Global Disability Summit 2025.
It provides an overview of how the profound changes shaping our world impact the diversity of persons with disabilities and pathways to address these changes and drive inclusion across all aspects of life. Inclusive Education is mentioned over 100 times in the report, for instance, listing barriers to inclusion (page 198), and giving examples of how to finance inclusive education through a debt swap (page 280).
Download the report (available in various languages).
[Case study] A tent full of dreams, Afghanistan
For UNICEF, S Khan writes about one girl and her access to education in Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, Accelerated Learning Centres are a form of community-based education, enrolling children in primary education who may be behind, missed a year of studies or need to catch up. UNICEF aims specifically to enroll girls, who experience higher barriers to entering the public school system and may not have any other opportunity for a formal education.”
[Blog] Educating children with disabilities: Addressing the unfinished agenda. Reflections a decade later
In this blog, the authors reflect on the Global Disability Summit and disability inclusive education:
“The third Global Disability Summit takes place this week in Berlin, and policymakers, educators, and civil society actors attending will reflect on the progress made in making education more inclusive, and what challenges remain to be tackled. All children, including children with disabilities, deserve the opportunity to be in school and learn so they acquire the skills and knowledge to thrive and eventually have jobs. While there has been some headway made in the 10 years since the paper ‘Towards a Disability Inclusive Education,’ there is still much more that needs to be done.”
The authors ask: “How can we accelerate efforts to help children with disabilities access quality education?”