ISaR Projekt

Although most governments are in agreement with the concept of Education for All (EFA), inclusion in its fullest context remains far from a practical reality or priority for a number of countries who are struggling with more fundamental issues of trying to stretch minimal resources to reach maximum numbers of children. In light of this, often it is the children with disabilities who end up without basic education and this is reflective of the fact that 90% of the children with disabilities in the developing countries remain out of school.

According to a joint report by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and UNICEF published in 2006, Children out of School – Measuring Exclusion from Primary Education, 115 million children of primary
school age are not in school and 40 million (35%) of these are children who do not attend school because of a disability/impairment. Disabled female children are less likely to attend school in comparison with disabled male children. Meeting
the Millennium Development Goals depends on reaching vulnerable children throughout the developing world. Children with disabilities are amongst the most stigmatized and excluded of all the worlds children and that has significant implication for key targets and commitments within the international development agenda, in particular the Millennium Development Goals, Education for All and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This paper is a review of the current operating environment in education for children with vision impairment in Sri Lanka and Pakistan and highlights some of the successes of, and challenges to,
educational inclusion in light of the relevant policy frameworks.

(Source: Introduction)