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www.zeroproject.org
office@zeroproject.org
330 - Improved access to inclusive education, Leonard Cheshire
Disability, United Kingdom
C
ONTACT
Leonard Cheshire Disability
Ms. Georgina Gaskell
United Kingdom
http://www.leonardcheshire.org/international+44 (0) 203 242 0223
O
VERALL GOAL
/
MISSION
Improving access to inclusive education for children with disabilities and influencing changes in policies and practices to
the education systedsfdsdm to benefit all learners. Nilphamari is one of the poorest Districts in the northern zone of
Bangladesh. It has even lower literacy rates than the rest of the country, averaging just 25.5% compared to a national
rate of 56%. A substantial proportion of children with disabilities are out of school. Many do not receive the assessment
or support services they need in order to attend school, and they also face additional barriers including: stigma; lack of
awareness of rights; inaccessible school infrastructure; lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of inclusive
pedagogy; and lack of accessible public transport to reach school.
The majority of teachers have not been trained on how to support children with disabilities in the classroom or how to
ensure lessons are inclusive.
T
HE SOLUTION THAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED
The project focused on the implementation of inclusive education in mainstream primary schools to support children
with disabilities to attend lessons and gain an education alongside their non-disabled peers. Activities included:
1.
Baseline study, which revealed only 18% of children with disabilities were going to school and outlined the barriers
preventing them from accessing a quality primary education
2.
Assessment of each child and subsequent access to medical support, rehabilitation and/or assistive devices as
required
3.
Support for 2,128 children with disabilities to enroll in 262 mainstream primary schools
4.
Training of over 400 teachers on inclusive education methodologies and how to support children with disabilities
5.
Establishment of inclusive education resource centers
6.
Infrastructure adaptations in schools to improve accessibility
7.
Establishment of child-to-child clubs and parents groups to ensure peer support, experience-sharing and advocacy
8.
Establishment of sustainable, affordable transport solutions to help children with disabilities reach school
9.
Lobbying of the Directorate of Primary Education to standardize the inclusive education training module for all
teachers