Blog

“When we talk about the stigma, isolation and doubt that comes with disability, and the personal and systemic neglect faced by teachers and children with disabilities, can we tap into what it means for a child to read or listen to a story and see themselves reflected; their troubles affirmed?”

The author asks why children’s literature is often given little space in discussions around inclusion and equity. Access to children’s literature is limited in the Global South. In India, for example, there is only 1 book for 11 children in rural areas. The author claims: “If inclusion in education is to move beyond infrastructure and enrolment, then libraries and literature must take their rightful place within these conversations.”

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To celebrate their RISE project, Link Education International have published three stories of young learners from Rwanda, Malawi, and Zambia. As Link Education International say:

“These stories remind us that change is possible. Confident teachers and school leaders with the skills and knowledge to enable children with disabilities to engage in their learning and thrive socially with their peers. More children with disabilities happily attending, staying and thriving in schools which are safe, accessible and welcoming.”

Read the Rwanda story.

Read the Malawi story.

Read the Zambia story.

This blog introduces the TRIO approach from India: Three learners from the same class, each with different strengths, who live near one another work as a team. They study, support and motivate one another to stay in school and keep progressing.

The approach helps with overcrowded classrooms, shifts teaching from control to trust, and has shown improvements in attendance and better academic performance. A delegation from Malawi will visit India to learn from this approach.

The author claims: “The future of education depends not only on innovation, but on solidarity — the willingness to learn from one another, to adapt and to build systems that can endure.”

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This blog shares reflections from the a book by the authors, called ‘Reconceptualising the learning crisis in Africa: Multi-dimensional pedagogies of Accelerated Learning Programmes’.

The blog introduces the Ubuntu concept, reframing “learners and teachers as knowledge-holders whose identities, languages and community ties are assets, not obstacles.” It introduces successful teaching projects based on the Ubuntu concept. The blog also focuses on the importance of teaching in the children’s native language.

“When learners hear and use their own languages in school, comprehension rises, participation increases and self-worth grows. Language becomes a bridge to belonging – and belonging is the soil in which learning takes root.”

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This blog summarises a symposium organised by ODI Global at the 2025 UKFIET conference.

“A well organised, funded and disciplined global movement has a clear and long-term strategy to reinforce or reinstate a conservative, patriarchal vision of gender relations by smearing gender equality in education in the name of cultural or national interests, often in service of authoritarian agendas.”

However, the authors also state: “For every challenge that the education sector faces, there are tried and tested solutions.”

The authors give examples and summarise their findings into eight actions to tackle resistance to gender equality.

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The advances that Malawi made in promoting girl’s education are celebrated in this blog. These were gained through an advocacy campaign: “At the heart of the efforts in advocating for the government to prioritize education at systems level, was a call for better infrastructure, improved learning environments and, crucially, the need to accommodate the specific needs of girls.”

One of the main learnings was the importance of adequate washrooms for girls, especially girls once they reach puberty.

“The result is a more supportive and inclusive education environment, particularly for girls in rural areas who previously had limited access to school facilities and resources.”

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“To build inclusive and equitable societies, it is essential to address the educational barriers affecting both boys and girls,” states this blog and asks: “How can we tackle boys’ disengagement from education while advancing gender equality?”

The authors present the results of their research in Cambodia, Lesotho and Malawi. The three countries were chosen because “all three have higher numbers of boys than girls of primary and secondary age out of school, low levels of learning and high levels of physical violence and bullying at school”.

The blog shares the research and key takeaways.

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Sarah Johnson, Senior Technical Advisor at CARE International, writes: “Climate change is reshaping how young people learn, earn, and envision their futures”.

She writes about two programmes of education and training systems for green skills in Somalia/Somaliland and Bangladesh. In the blog, she shares the five lessons learned. Lesson number 1 is “blend technical and foundational green skills – and tailor them to context”.

“While foundational green skills are universally important, technical skills must reflect local realities. Gender, geography, education level, and market opportunity shape which skills are most relevant – and accessible.”

The programme addressed the context of young women, rural youth, and urban youth and what skills they might need to learn.

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The Brookings Institute has published two visual guides on how to rethink pathways to scale innovation in education. The example they have chosen is improving inclusive education through teacher training. The first video presents a fictional team working on a teaching-related innovation as they collaboratively explore and ultimately select a scaling pathway. The second video follows the same team a few years later, as they must now assess how things have changed during their journey, what benefits and trade-offs their initial pathway currently offers, how to navigate new opportunities and challenges, and ways to reassess if and how the pathway needs to be replaced or adjusted.

Watch the videos.

After Eastern and Southern African education officials attended an event facilitated by the KIX Africa 19 Hub on Kenya’s proactive approach to including learners with disabilities, they translated what they had learned into action.

A learning visit, hosted in September 2023, included observing Kenya’s inclusive curriculum. Kenya’s curriculum pathways is tailored to children’s age and level, and is designed to accommodate diverse learning needs and prioritize learners with disabilities from the outset. The blog describes how this learning is now adapted and implemented in Lesotho and Malawi.

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