Supporting Access to Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities

Susan in class supporting children with disabilities © Ninth Wonder Productions/Sightsavers

Supporting Access to Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities

Every child has the right to education, but children with disabilities in low and lower middle-income countries are less likely to have access to education than children without disabilities.

In Kenya, evidence shows that there is a lack of quality early childhood education for children with disabilities aged three to five. Working towards solving this problem, Sightsavers launched their Inclusive Early Childhood Development and Education project (ECDE) in partnership with Humanity & Inclusion, Sense International, the Institute of Development Studies, United Disabled Persons of Kenya, and government partners. The two-year project reached marginalized communities in Homa Bay County and Kakuma Refugee Camp, with a focus on children from rural areas and refugees.

The program brought together experts, educators, communities, and organizations of persons with disabilities to show that affordable, contextually appropriate inclusive education practices are effective in improving outcomes for children with disabilities. As a result, the program has been able to help almost 600 children with disabilities in Homabay and Turkana counties access inclusive early-years education. Similarly, the program helped to train 70 teachers, school managers, and education officials in disability inclusion and how to support learners with different needs.

The program, having proved successful in how many children it’s been able to support, has also received accolades, receiving the Zero Project award for their Inclusive Futures education work.

At Kakuma Refugee Camp, Susan witnessed firsthand the impact a program like this can make.

Susan’s Story

Susan is a head teacher in a project school in Kakuma refugee camp.

“Being a headteacher in a refugee school has a lot of challenges—we have a population in the school where the learners can be 200 in a class. Secondly, we also have a scarcity of water here. When we don’t have water, the learners don’t come to school.

“We have received a lot of training through the project on inclusive education. Inclusive education means including a child with a disability and a child without, and they learn together. You equalize them, there’s no discrimination, you see them as a learner, and you serve them equally.

“We also support parents through training—we show them what inclusive education is, how the learners are enjoying the class, how they are interacting with the others and so as they go through this training, they are seeing that their learners are getting an education. Some of them are coming throughout to see the progress of their children. We’ve trained almost 75 parents, and now, those parents are sharing this information to the community so other communities now know more about inclusive education.

“We have made a lot of changes in my school. We have an accessible latrine, that is helping my learners with disabilities. At the entry gate to the school, they have made ramps. They’ve drawn pictures to welcome learners. We also have new pathways in my school to show where the direction of the classes is, where the direction of the latrines is, where the offices are. It’s now the best school amongst ECDE schools in the camp set up. It’s very beautiful and attractive and my learners are growing very well—they enjoy the environment.”