A national early warning system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is steadily transforming how Malaysia supports students on the edge of dropping out. The system analyses each student across seven indicators: attendance, academic achievement, disciplinary record, disability or learning support needs, household income, distance from school, and parents’ marital status. Together, these factors help identify which students may be most at risk, sending automatic alerts to counsellors, teachers and district officials, so they can step in before it’s too late. In 2025, the AI system flagged students at risk of dropout, prompting targeted interventions that enabled more than 9,000 students – of whom 3,287 were girls – to return to school. The system goes beyond identifying students at risk of dropping out. It also asks an important question: once students are re-engaged, how do we keep them in school?
Blog
[Podcast] Education World Forum Conversations with UNICEF’s Pia Britto
In this episode of EWF Conversations, EWF Programme Director Fabrizio Trifirò talks to Pia Britto, UNICEF Global Director of Education.
Britto reflects on the challenge of a global education crisis where three-quarters of children are being failed. The conversation highlights a typology of learning failures, with education denied, disrupted, and delayed, and initiatives aimed at establishing a “future-ready” model centred on equity and 21st-century skills.
She discusses the findings of UNICEF’s work across 144 countries, the necessity of gender inclusivity through digital and STEM skills, and the impact of human-centered AI. Finally, she explores the value of EWF for fostering international partnerships, sharing examples of how the forum facilitates collective action and turns global dialogue into practical results for the most marginalized children.
[Blog] Beyond adoption: How GPE KIX is helping accelerated learning to work at scale in Ethiopia
Ethiopia has been working to ensure that no child is left behind in their education. This has inspired a policy shift to integrating a catch-up education model called Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) into the national education system.
The goal is to reach children who are past the normal age for starting or finishing primary or secondary school, and not enrolled in any school program. Research has now been conducted to identify strengths and weaknesses of the policy and its implementation. The research found as one of the strength that there is a strong equity focus. The policies prioritize marginalized groups, particularly displaced children and overage learners, reinforcing the inclusive mission of the program.
[Resource] Guidelines on identifying and addressing intersectional discrimination against girls, adolescents, women and older women with disabilities
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has adopted new Guidelines on identifying and addressing intersectional discrimination against girls, adolescents, women and older women with disabilities. The Guidelines recognise how disability, gender, age, race, indigenous identity, migration status, poverty and other factors can intersect to create distinct experiences of discrimination. There are (short) sections on education in the Guidelines.
[Conference] Accessing the mainstream: PENDA Conference on evidence to inform disability action
Date: 26-27 November 2026.
Time: 09:00 – 17:00.
Location: University of London, UK.
This autumn sees the successful conclusion of the PENDA research initiative funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Over the last eight years, PENDA has worked with partners across Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia to strengthen the evidence base on disability inclusion. This conference will bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and organisations of persons with disabilities both from PENDA and the wider field. The purpose is to share evidence and learning from the 13 PENDA interventions that aim to improve the lives of people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries.
[Report] Disability Inclusive Development – Inclusive Futures – Completion Report
Launched in 2018, led by Sightsaver in partnership with the International Disability Alliance, Inclusive Futures set out to demonstrate that disability inclusion is not only possible, but essential to achieving sustainable development outcomes.
Working across Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, the programme brought together more than 20 consortium partners and more than 200 organisations of people with disabilities to test, refine and scale approaches that improve access to education, employment, healthcare and social participation.
By the time the programme closed in March 2026, it had exceeded many of its original targets. The final report reflects also on the projects around inclusive education and the learning from it. It also talks about risks from political activities, heat waves, how these disrupted projects and how these risks were mitigated or managed.
Read more information about the closure of Inclusive Futures.
[Blog] Changing futures: Hearing impaired children in Punjab, Pakistan, hear for the first time
For many families in Pakistan, access to support for children with disabilities remains limited. Parents often lack the financial resources or information needed to seek specialized care, which can affect children’s opportunities to learn and progress through mainstream education. With support from GPE, UNICEF and the Special Education Department, the government of Punjab aims to reach more than 23,000 children with assistive devices, including providing over 3,500 children in Lahore with hearing aids. The program has also trained 10,591 teachers (6,818 women – 64%) in government schools on inclusive learning pedagogy, classroom adaptations, and techniques for supporting children with diverse learning needs, and supported inclusive education policy development, laying foundations for institutionalizing inclusive education across Punjab’s school system.
[Blog] Building belonging by integrating Ukrainian refugees into Moldovan schools
Within hours of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the first refugee families arrived in Căușeni in Moldova.
“When the refugees started to come, civil society and the community came together and did all we could to help end their nightmare,” says Ana Schiopu, manager of the civil society organization, Raza Încrederii (Ray of Hope), a member of the national education coalition APSCF in Moldova.
Raza Încrederii helped refugee children to access education and gained insight into the barriers children and their families faced. These experiences helped the education coalition APSCF to identify broader challenges affecting refugee children’s education and well-being across Moldova. Through its advocacy and participation in national policy processes, APSCF contributed to the development of key policies and practical solutions aimed at ensuring access to education for refugee children and promoting their inclusion in Moldovan schools.
[Report] 258 million children affected by crises as learning losses threaten an entire generation
A report by Education Cannot Wait – Breaking Barriers: Understanding Educational Exclusion in Crises – estimates that 258 million school-aged children and adolescents now have their education affected by crises worldwide. Of these, 93 million are entirely out of school, while millions more remain enrolled but struggle to learn under conditions that undermine their progress and increase their risk of dropping out.
The study finds that educational needs are highly concentrated: of the 182 million crisis-affected children living in the world’s 20 most severe crisis contexts, 74 million are out of school – representing nearly 80% of all out-of-school crisis-affected children identified in the study. The evidence is clear: conflict and climate change are rolling back hard-won gains in education.
[Resource] Practical Tools to Make Inclusive Education in Emergencies a Reality
An Education Cannot Wait-funded project run by Inclusion International and the International Disability Alliance with Asdown Colombia and Fédération Nigérienne des Personnes Handicapées (FNPH) has produced free tools for teachers, families, OPDs and humanitarian actors, in up to four languages (mostly English, French and Spanish, with some in Arabic).
The tools built on three years of learning, 2023 to 2026, from projects in Colombia and Niger. The tools are for different groups, including OPDs, Humanitarian Actors, Schools and Families.