How UNICEF is opening the door to education for children with disabilities in Lebanon

Education is a fundamental human right. Yet, for far too many children with disabilities it remains an unachievable goal, an issue that is particularly acute in crisis-torn Lebanon. UNICEF and its partners are working to ensure that every child has access to learning.

An estimated 93 million children around the world live with disabilities. Like all children, they have ambitions and dreams for their futures. Like all children, they need quality education to develop their skills and realize their full potential.

Yet, children with disabilities are often overlooked in policy-making, limiting their access to education and their ability to eventually participate in social, economic and political life. Worldwide, children with disabilities are among the most likely to be out of school. They face persistent barriers to education stemming from discrimination, stigma and decision-makers' systematic failure to incorporate disability in school services.

For 12-year-old Walid, every door to education in Lebanon was closed until recently.

A refugee from Syria's ongoing civil conflict, he has lived in Beddawi, northern Lebanon, with his parents since 2015. Born with Down's Syndrome, he was refused a place in local schools "more times than I want to remember," his mother, Samira, says.

Earlier this year – through programme funding from the governments of the Netherlands, Australia, and Finland- Walid was offered a place on the first-stage adapted basic literacy and numeracy (ABLN) and second-stage BLN non-formal education programmes - funded by the government of France and the U.K.’s FCDO and run by War Child Holland, with UNICEF-support.

"For the first time in his life, my son was treated like any other child and allowed to learn"

"For the first time in his life, my son was treated like any other child and allowed to learn" says Walid's father, Adnan.

"He was a boy seemingly trapped within his own world." Until recently, Walid was unable even to communicate with his parents. But that has changed. His parents list multiple tasks he's now able to complete – each of which was impossible a year ago. A bright, likeable and curious young boy, Walid is able to speak in simple sentences and recognize shapes and colours. He even visits the nearby supermarket on his own to shop for his mother, something he takes great pride in.

In Lebanon, which is reeling from multiple crises, the past year has been particularly challenging for every child, in or out of education. A series of COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures meant Walid's entrance into the world of learning was largely remote.

Walid's lessons are delivered daily to his cell phone, and he was also given a computer tablet.

"From the very first day, Walid would wait with me until his teacher sent the day's lesson," Adnan recalls. "Together, we'd work to understand the question, and I'd help Walid to share the answers with his teachers."

Walid clutches his tablet with pride as he swipes and taps with the speed and accuracy of any 12-year-old. "His tablet and his lessons have opened a window to a world we thought he would never be able to see," says Adnan.

"The future for our son is far from certain," he acknowledges, though he's delighted with Walid's current experience with education. "When the schools reopen, he'll be able to experience classroom life for the very first time. Every child has a contribution to make to their community, and through the support of UNICEF's BLN programme, our child will be able to start to make his own."

UNICEF supports efforts to provide quality education to all children in Lebanon, and works on increasing access and improving learning in primary school, supporting partners in delivering the BLN programmes which target children aged 10-14.

ABLN programmes are enabled through funding from the governments of the Netherlands, Australia, and Finland. BLN programmes are funded by the government of France and the U.K.’s FCDO. Donors for inclusivity are the governments of Canada and France.

In January 2021, UNICEF provided 257 computer tablets to partners who distributed them to children with disabilities enrolled in their programmes, to facilitate their education and remote therapy sessions.

Inclusive education is the most effective way to give all children a fair chance to go to school, learn and develop the skills they need to thrive.

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.

Inclusive systems value the unique contributions students of all backgrounds bring to the classroom and allow diverse groups to grow side by side, to the benefit of all.