Inclusive education
Providing all children with the right to quality education and learning.
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- Ελληνικά
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The challenge
Disability is one of the most serious barriers to education across the globe.
An estimated 93 million children worldwide live with disabilities. Like all children, children with disabilities have ambitions and dreams for their futures. They also require quality education to develop their skills and realize their full potential.
Yet, children with disabilities are often overlooked in policymaking, limiting their access to education and their ability to participate in social, economic and political life. Worldwide, these children are among the most likely to be out of school. They face persistent barriers to education stemming from discrimination, stigma and the routine failure of decision makers to incorporate disability in school services.
Every child should have a quality education, regardless of who they are, where they come from or their family circumstances. UNICEF has a clear mandate for action: Sustainable Development Goal 4 demands inclusive and equitable quality education for every child by 2030.
The solution
Inclusive education means all children in the same classrooms, in the same schools. It means real learning opportunities for groups who have traditionally been excluded – not only children with disabilities, but speakers of other languages too.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Greece in collaboration with the European Union and the Ministry of Education has launched a communication campaign focusing on supporting equal access to school for children - and especially children with disabilities - regardless of mobility or other conditions.
With the key message "Accessible schools, for every child" the campaign focuses on the fact that every child, regardless of their abilities and nationality, has an equal right to education as well as opportunities through the institution of inclusive schools.
The institution of inclusive schools allows students of all backgrounds to learn and grow side by side, without exclusions, for the benefit of all.
Building on successful and innovative approaches to fostering an inclusive education system in Europe and Central Asia, as well as existing partnerships and progress made through the refugee and migrant response in Greece, UNICEF will provide support to government institutions, schools, civil society organizations, children and their parents to strengthen a school culture that empowers every child, including children with disabilities or special needs, refugee and migrant children, children with minority backgrounds, children in alternative care and victims of violence and abuse.
No exceptions, and no child left behind.
Resources
These resources on education represent just a small selection of materials produced by UNICEF and its partners in the region. The list is regularly updated to include the latest information:
Inclusive education for children with disabilities (external website)
Improving Education Participation: Policy and Practice Pointers for Enrolling All Children and Adolescents in School and Preventing Dropout (2017) - UNICEF
Inclusive Education: Understanding Article 24 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017) - UNICEF
Full report | Brief report
Monitoring Education Participation: Framework for Monitoring Children and Adolescents who are Out of School or At Risk of Dropping Out (2016) - UNICEF and UNESCO
Full report | Brief report