Call to Invest in Disability-Inclusive Education

NGOs call on governments and donors to prioritize schooling for children with disabilities

On Thursday 27th April more than 40 international and national non-profit organizations launched a ‘Call to Action on investing in disability-inclusive education’. The joint call highlights the shocking fact that more than 32 million children with disabilities in developing countries are estimated to be out of school.

In the statement, the world’s leading NGOs working in disability and education in developing countries, including Light for the World and Sightsavers– together with the Global Campaign for Education (GCE), the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and others – called on governments and donors to significantly step up action to deliver on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure quality education for all children, by investing in inclusive education for boys and girls with disabilities. They also commit to making education for children with disabilities in developing countries a top priority, advocating for better donor financing for inclusive education.  

The campaign was initiated by the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) inclusive education task group. 

It follows the recent release of the Costing Equity report by the IDDC, led by Light for the World and supported by Open Society Foundations and other international NGOs, on financing of inclusive education for children with disabilities.

Nafisa Baboo from the Inclusive Education Task Group at IDDC and Senior Advisor for Inclusive Education at Light for the World invites other organisations to join and sign up: “This Call to Action has been shared with both international and national partners over the last few days; and is open to all organisations to sign up. We expect the number of signatories to continue to grow over the coming weeks and months and we have seen a particularly enthusiastic response from national partners – in less than 24 hours of sending out the call we received more than 15 endorsements – indicating the high demand and support at national level for greater investment to ensure the inclusion of girls and boys with disabilities in low and middle income countries.” 

For the Call to Action Document  and list of organisations that have signed please visit Light for the World’s website: https://www.light-for-the-world.org/callforeducation