Towards a Disability Inclusive Education: Background paper for the Oslo Summit on Education for Development

This paper covers the four topics of the Oslo Summit: investment in education, quality of learning, education in emergencies and girls’ education.

Disability continues to be one of the primary causes of educational disadvantage and exclusion, creating the largest single group of girls and boys who remain out of school. Even in those countries close to achieving universal primary enrolment, children with disabilities are still not in school, accessing opportunities to meaningful employment and on sustainable routes out of poverty.

This paper highlights the vulnerability and exclusion of children with disability in the basic regular education system. However, there is a need to emphasize that inclusive education has to go beyond primary education to secondary, tertiary, vocational training and lifelong learning opportunities.