“As long as children with disabilities are denied equal access to their local schools, governments cannot reach the MDG of achieving universal primary education (MDG2), and States parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) cannot fulfil their responsibilities under Article 24.” – UNICEF, State of the World’s Children 2013

How can the United Kingdom (UK), other donors, and indeed all partners of the Global Partnership for Education better fulfil the 20 year old promises of the Salamanca declaration? Launched at the Replenishment Conference last week, the Global Campaign for Education UK’s new report seeks to help answer that question through an in-depth evaluation of the extent to which UK aid to education currently includes and prioritizes children with disabilities.

Launched hot on the heels of the Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities high level session at the pledging conference, the recommendations of the GCE UK report closely align with the powerful Call to Action that came out of last week’s conference session “Because we promised: Inclusive quality education for all children with disabilities”.

A powerful Call To Action

Just as this Call to Action, the GCE UK report emphasizes that the invisibility of children and young people with disabilities from national and global education data creates real challenges for all of us - not just for partner developing country governments in their efforts to build inclusive education systems, and not just for education donors like the UK. Ultimately, we as a world community and global partnership will fail to achieve the Education For All goals, MDG 2, or Post-2015 ambitions of “equitable and inclusive quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all”, so long as millions of children with disabilities remain hidden and left behind.

“Although I have met many dedicated parents, teachers and disabled activists who have challenged negative attitudes and demonstrated that a more inclusive approach to education is better for everyone, children with disabilities are often seen as not ‘fully human’, and experience discrimination and abuse." - Foreword to the GCE UK report, by Dr Susie Miles, Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education, Manchester University

More advocacy needed for inclusive learning

Here in the United Kingdom, the Global Campaign for Education has advocated for many years for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to strengthen its focus on education for children with disabilities. DFID is a powerful lead donor to education and contributor to the Global Partnership , with considerable expertise and the ability to gather and disseminate best practice in reaching the most marginalized children. This is evidenced by innovative aid programs such as the Girls Education Challenge Fund. As the UK Parliament’s International Development Select Committee recently argued, “a more ambitious commitment to disabled people from a donor of DFID’s size and influence could have a transformational impact”.

GCE UK has warmly welcomed important steps that DFID have taken in the last year, led by Minister Lynne Featherstone, who has set her sights on ending “the great neglect” of disability, and who kicked off a fresh prioritization of disability in DFID’s work with announcements on accessible school construction and supporting data-strengthening at the United Nation’s High Level Meeting on Disability and Development last September.

Since then, the GCE UK research team have been engaging closely and constructively with DFID officials in London and in country offices to understand the barriers and challenges of turning high level ministerial commitments into long term shifts for the inclusion of children with disabilities in national education systems and local schools.

“Concrete, targeted actions from actors at all levels are needed to turn inclusion into reality, in particular, actions to collect data, increase access to schools and learning, and working in partnership to achieve results.” - GPE Call to Action, “Because we promised: Inclusive quality education for all children with disabilities”

More action  needed at the country-level

Closely mirroring the GPE’s ‘Call to Action’, GCE UK’s final recommendations emphasize the need for the United Kingdom, the Global Partnership for Education  and all partners to help embed the inclusion of children with disabilities as a long term priority at all levels. It should be  central in policies and strategies, and  country offices and  education programs should be required to push for inclusion on the ground, and report this back as part of results-reporting. It should be the norm for the success of education systems and education aid programs to be measured in terms of whether they reach and achieve change for children with disabilities.

Lynne Featherstone highlighted her emphasis on disability at last week’s replenishment conference, not only when announcing the UK’s strong financial pledge to the Global Partnership , but also by speaking powerfully at the inclusive education side session. She urged all GPE partners to “leave no-one behind”, echoing the importance placed on reaching people with disabilities by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his co-chairs of the UN High Level Panel on Post-2015 Development.

As the Call to Action concludes, and as the GCE UK report seeks to reinforce: It’s time to act to turn these important commitments into action.