Blog

“Across the SDG 4 landscape, education systems aspire to equity, inclusion and quality, yet the data needed to monitor these aspirations are often fragmented, incomplete or outdated,” writes Amira Awaad in this blog.

She outlines how Egypt has improved its data collection, the results and actions taken. “[The dataset] covers 25.8 million students, 52,375 public schools, 9,681 private schools, and 1.26 million teachers. Most importantly, the 2025 submission includes strengthened disaggregation across gender, geography, school type and disability status.”

It highlighted improved student attendance but showed rural areas recovered slower from post-pandemic instability. It also showed teacher shortages and mismatches. Action was taken:

“In 2025, through targeted recruitment, redeployment and rationalized timetabling, Egypt eliminated the national teacher deficit entirely. Every core classroom now has a qualified teacher, and the student teacher ratio improved from 32 to 1 to 20.5 to 1 in a single year.”

Read the blog. 

UNICEF has issued press releases and statements about the situation of children in Gaza, Iran, and Sudan.

Gaza: “More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October. That is roughly one girl or boy killed every day. During a ceasefire.” “A ceasefire that slows the bombs is progress — but one that still buries children is not enough. It is a warning, and it demands enforcement, humanitarian access, and accountability.”

Iran: “UNICEF calls for the protection of all children from all forms of violence and harm.  They must be safeguarded from any actions that endanger their lives, freedom, or mental and physical well-being. The Iranian authorities, those involved in the protests, communities, and families, should take every measure to protect children. Security forces must refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force, and children should not be in settings that put them in danger or deprive them of their liberty.”

Sudan: “Children continue to be killed and injured – just this week, eight children were reportedly killed in an attack in Al Obeid in North Kordofan. More than 5 million children have been forced from their homes – the equivalent of 5,000 children displaced every day – many of them repeatedly, with attacks and violence often following them as they move.  Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war, with children as young as one reported among survivors.”

Read the full press releases about:
Gaza
Iran 
Sudan

EENET has made a minor update to its privacy policy. The changes are:

• Removal of EENET’s no-longer active PO Box address;
• Adding EENET’s telephone/WhatsApp number as a contact option;
• Updating the location of our email/website server (it is now hosted in the UK not the USA);
• Removing mention of Twitter/X as we no longer have an account on that platform.

Read EENET’s privacy policy.

This blog is about the “Planning for Inclusive Education” programme in West Africa. This program supports 8 countries—Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Sierra Leone—to make sure children and young people with disabilities are included in all education policy.

The first step is around capacity building. Zeinabou Gaye, a participant from Senegal, said: “Inclusion is not just about having a student with a disability in a regular classroom. It requires a comprehensive transformation of the education system: teacher training, adapting infrastructure, gender responsiveness and raising awareness within the community.”

Read the blog.

Theirworld’s published a report, “All Means All: A Call for Disability-Inclusive Early Years Financing”. Children with disabilities are 25% less likely to attend preschool than their peers and 49% more likely never to attend school at all.

Solutions already exist: Early childhood systems and services can be designed with all children in mind rather than governments retrofitting inclusion later at far greater cost. Theirworld’s report sets out recommendations for early years services.

Read the blog and access Theirworld’s report.

The Theirworld report was co-authored by Vibhu Sharma. Listen to EENET’s podcast episode with Vibhu, entitled “Assistive Tech: Starting early changes everything”.

Having achieved universal access to basic education, Cabo Verde is now focused on universalizing access to pre-primary education and improving the inclusion and quality of early learning.

This blog, part of a series from GPE, states the progress made in Cabo Verde in inclusive education. Currently, there is a pilot project in kindergartens in vulnerable areas, focusing on training professionals in education and other areas.

Read the blog.

Stories for Inclusion is a new website developed by the Niketan Foundation and Biblionef Netherlands.

This website promotes diversity, empathy, and inclusion through children’s books, featuring children with disabilities. It is designed with accessibility in mind, featuring a dyslexia-friendly font and adjustable text size. The website offers tools and resources for educators, organizations, and anyone passionate about inclusive education. There is an Inclusive Education module to bring inclusion into classrooms and communities.

Visit the Stories for Inclusion website.