This blog was written by Johannes Trimmel, Inclusive Futures disability inclusive development programme director at Sightsavers.
Summary: In celebration of Global Action Week for Education (28 April – 5 May 2025), a coalition of leading international NGOs and organisations of persons with disabilities has released a powerful joint statement calling for urgent action to end the exclusion of children with disabilities from education systems worldwide and are collectively calling on others to sign this open letter. In this blog, Johannes Trimmel, Inclusive Futures disability inclusive development programme director, sets out a clear, achievable path to change — rooted in six years of proven practice from the Inclusive Futures initiative.
In celebration of the Global Action Week for Education from 28 April – 5 May 2025, together with our consortium partners and organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs) in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal and Nigeria, we are calling for urgent action to end the exclusion of children with disabilities from education systems worldwide. We are inviting individuals and organisations to join us and sign our open letter.
There are nearly 240 million children with disabilities worldwide. Available data shows disability can more than double a child’s risk of missing out on school. When children with disabilities are enrolled in schools, they often end up learning less, missing more classes, or dropping out.
And despite global commitments on inclusive education, time and time again children with disabilities continue to be excluded from research and programmes that are designed to build more inclusive and equitable societies. In many developing countries, less than a third of children with disabilities aged 7-14 can read; even fewer have basic numeracy skills.
This can and must change. Over the last six years, the Inclusive Futures coalition has shown that by taking steps to find and enrol children with disabilities in schools, providing adequate support for teachers, and supporting schools to make the necessary preparations for welcoming children with disabilities, children with disabilities can learn, play and thrive in education.
We and our partners have shown that inclusion is achievable, within existing government education sector plans and policies. That is why we’re calling on donors and international agencies involved in education programming to use our practical learning to end exclusion in education and adopt the following recommendations:
- To embed inclusive identification and outreach in schools and early-years programming, so children with disabilities can be found, enrolled in their local schools, and families and communities connected to services and support.
- To support teachers with the attitudes, knowledge and skills they need to provide quality inclusive teaching to children with and without disabilities so all children can benefit from learning together in the same classrooms.
- To support schools to make adequate preparations to welcome children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms – making sure they have the support, tools and learning environment they need to reach their potential.
With only five years until the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 deadline, there’s never been a stronger case for building more inclusive education systems that deliver quality education for all, and lead to fairer, more prosperous and resilient societies, which can withstand and adapt to the challenges of the 21st century. Transformative change requires deliberate action by all, national and local government actors, donors, UN agencies and INGOs, national and local alike. Join us. Let’s build an inclusive future together.
To read the letter in full, signed by the CEOs of Sightsavers, Humanity & Inclusion, Light for the World, Sense International, the International Disability Alliance, ADD International, and grassroots disability leaders from Africa and Asia, and to sign the letter in support – please visit: https://inclusivefutures.org/end-exclusion-in-education-open-letter/
About Inclusive Futures
Inclusive Futures is a flagship disability inclusive development initiative funded by UK aid. It brings together global leaders and specialists from over ten organisations to test and scale inclusive approaches in health, education, work, and tackling stigma and discrimination.
The initiative generates robust evidence about how to include people with disabilities in development and humanitarian programmes. Since 2018, it has helped to transform the lives of more than 3.5 million people with disabilities and reached more than 15.5 million people without disabilities in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
