Despite significant increases in school attendance over the past decade and efforts to reduce gender disparities, children with disabilities continue to be left behind, with girls more likely to miss school than boys.
And when children are denied their right to education, they become trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependence.
Watch the video below for a quick overview of our work on inclusive education.
We make schools more inclusive for children with disabilities. We make sure lessons are stimulating and classrooms are as accessible as possible, and we ensure children with disabilities have the necessary equipment, receive specialist support and can learn with their peers.
We promote inclusive education throughout communities. We encourage parents to play an active part in education. ‘Mothers’ clubs’ have been set up in Sierra Leone to make school uniforms for students with disabilities, and community members in Malawi help young children to travel to pre-school using adapted bicycles.
We work with governments to improve education systems. We make sure schools get the support they need: we develop teacher training and help ministries of education collect data on children with disabilities enrolled in their schools, and promote joined-up services by linking health and social services with schools and families.
We work with disabled people’s organisations. We partner with groups across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to ensure people with disabilities have a meaningful say in education decision-making.
We support children with disabilities in their early years, making sure they're included in pre-schools so they're set up to achieve from an early age.
Our education programme supports children with disabilities to learn in mainstream schools alongside their peers.
To find out the challenges of teaching children, particularly those with disabilities, during health crises we spoke with Abdul Kandeh Turay, a teacher in Rokulan, Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone, children with disabilities are often considered not worth educating. We've worked with schools to make sure these children are not left behind.
As part of Sightsavers' inclusive education project, which supports children with visual impairments across Mali, we’ve worked with linguistic expert Dr Issiaka Ballo to translate braille into the local language for the first time.