2018 – This Think Piece was part of a series commissioned by UNICEF to stimulate debate around significant educational challenges facing the Eastern and Southern Africa region. It presents a practical and pragmatic approach to increasing inclusion for both boys and girls with disabilities, considering the deficiencies in education provision for children with disabilities, the financial and human resource constraints present in many countries, and the unclear discourse surrounding the definition and scope of inclusive education.
This Think Piece starts by identifying three tensions within the inclusion debate that inhibit and constrain the journey towards more inclusive schools and better educational experiences for disabled children. It then moves on to provide a practical model that aims to reduce these tensions and that teachers, schools and ministries of education can use to create more inclusive education opportunities. The Think Piece concludes with a summary of the implications for the model at different levels within the education system.