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Children with disabilities such as blindness are often last in line when it comes to education. In fact it is believed that the proportion of disabled children receiving any form of education is as low as 1-3% in some developing countries.

This fuels a cycle of illiteracy and poverty, leaving people with disabilities one of the most vulnerable and excluded groups in the world.

Sightsavers works to make sure children who are blind or have low vision get the chance to go to school. A lot of the time parents of blind children simply don’t realise school is an option, so specially trained teachers go out into the community to identify children who are not in school. The parents then receive all the support and counseling they need to be able to meet their child’s needs.

An inclusive approach to education

Sightsavers supports the principle of inclusive education. This is where children who are blind or have low vision are included in the mainstream education system.

Making inclusion work

In order for inclusive education to fully succeed, teachers need to be given the training and support they need to teach every child. Many teachers in poorer countries cope with little training, poor pay and conditions, and enormous class sizes, so it isn't surprising that they sometimes find it difficult to attend to every child's needs. It’s for these reasons that many teachers feel unable to accept children with disabilities into their classes, or are unsure of how to teach them.

Specialist teachers

We also support specialist teachers, trained specifically to work with visually impaired children, known as itinerant teachers. These itinerant teachers visit a number of schools in their local area teaching visually impaired children skills such as Braille, as well as supporting their classroom teachers.

The role of an itinerant teacher includes:

• Finding children with sight problems not in school, and working with the parents to make sure their child gets enrolled.

• Visiting the children and parents at home to help prepare them for school. This could include helping the child use a white cane, or starting to teach them Braille.
• Sometimes blind children are not ready to go straight into the classroom, so an itinerant teacher will help them learn in a special resource room. When they feel confident they will join the other children in a mainstream classroom.
• Giving one-to-one help to children in the classroom, in things such as Braille.

Sightsavers is also a member of the Global Campaign for Education which advocates for the right of every child everywhere to go to school.

Our education work also extends to campaigning for changes in the curriculum to make it meet the needs of all children, including those with disabilities.