Abstract
BackgroundDespite a global commitment to the right to education for persons with disabilities, little is known about how to achieve inclusive education in practice, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of the world’s people with disabilities reside. Moreover, although exclusion from education is magnified by intersecting gender and socioeconomic inequalities, there is especially little knowledge regarding what approaches to inclusive education are effective amongst girls with disabilities living in resource-poor settings.ObjectivesThe objective of this article was to assess the impact of an inclusive education intervention led by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on the educational attainment of girls with disabilities in the resource-poor Lakes region of Kenya.MethodA quasi-experimental design was employed, where the literacy and numeracy educational attainment of the intervention and control groups was compared over two time points a year apart (Time 1 and Time 2; total matched N = 353). During this period, activities pertaining to six core components of a holistic inclusive education model were implemented.ResultsRelative to the control group, girls with disabilities in the intervention group reported a greater increase in literacy and numeracy attainment, adjusted for grade and level of functional difficulty.ConclusionFindings suggest that the intervention was successful in engendering additional improvements in the educational attainment of girls with disabilities from the resource-poor Lakes region of Kenya. Results highlight both the applicability of NGO-led interventions in settings, where national implementation of inclusive education is constrained, and the potential of taking such interventions to scale.
Highlights
The United Nations (2007) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has to date been ratified by 177 countries,1 signifying a global commitment to the rights of persons with disabilities, including the right to education (Article 24)
Addressing our main objective, we assess the unique contribution of the inclusive education intervention to the Uwezo scores of girls using longitudinal regression models
Over the intervention period, girls with disabilities who participated in the inclusive education intervention obtained significantly higher English, Kiswahili and numeracy test scores compared with a comparable group of girls with disabilities who did not participate in the intervention
Summary
The United Nations (2007) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has to date been ratified by 177 countries, signifying a global commitment to the rights of persons with disabilities, including the right to education (Article 24). For low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), there are particular challenges in meeting these goals in practice. Inclusive education originated in the Global North, and there is often much debate about how it should be implemented within many settings in LMICs (Miles & Singhal 2010). This leads to a disconnect between policy and practice. Despite a global commitment to the right to education for persons with disabilities, little is known about how to achieve inclusive education in practice, in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of the world’s people with disabilities reside. Exclusion from education is magnified by intersecting gender and socioeconomic inequalities, there is especially little knowledge regarding what approaches to inclusive education are effective amongst girls with disabilities living in resource-poor settings
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