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Humanity & Inclusion has released a factsheet on Information and Communication Technology supporting the inclusion of children with disabilities in education.

This factsheet draws on a study carried out by Humanity & Inclusion, which drew up an inventory of existing ICT that could help support inclusive education for children with disabilities and identified the challenges in implementing these ICT tools in the classrooms in Benin, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The factsheet calls for the integration ICT in education sector plans and education strategies, and for the allocation of specific budgets for their implementation.

Young people with disabilities (aged 15-35) are being asked to complete a survey that will inform a Youth Charter – an advocacy tool to encourage states, donors and influential stakeholders to fulfill the requests made by youth in the charter.  The final Charter will be presented during the Global Disability Summit and the Global Youth Disability Summit, both to be held in February 2022.  The GDS Youth is co-hosted by the International Disability Alliance, Atlas Alliance, Youth Mental Health Norway, and UNICEF.

The survey is available in English, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and French.

The deadline is 30 January 2022.

In Rwanda, the lack of accessible teaching and learning materials for learners with disabilities is often a major barrier to access and inclusion. Learners with visual disabilities often wait for braille materials, while learners who are deaf or hard of hearing lack access to materials in Rwandan Sign Language and are unable to participate in mainstream classrooms where learning is conducted in spoken language.

In late 2021, 18 teachers in Rwanda’s inclusive model schools received training to help bridge that gap, thanks to eKitabu, one of three innovators awarded funding through All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development’s (ACR GCD) UnrestrICTed challenge.

In collaboration with the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), Rwanda Union of the Blind (RUB) and Rwanda National Union of the Deaf (RNUD), eKitabu held a four-day training to equip the teachers with the skills to use accessible digital content and learning materials in their classrooms by applying Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles so that no child is left behind in “learning to read and reading to learn.”

Read more about this initiative.

“I am a child” is a poem written and presented in front of the Heads of State of Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe by Cleric Tembwe, a member of the Namibian Children’s Parliament, and one of child participants at the sub-regional World Children’s Day event at Kazungula Bridge on 20 November 2021.

Watch @TembweCleric, @parliament_nam, recite his poem “I am a Child”: 

A report has been published by UNICEF entitled ‘Mapping of disability-inclusive education practices in South Asia’.

The objectives of this study are to map effective or promising inclusive education policies, strategies and practices implemented at all levels of the education system in the South Asia region, in increasing access and/or learning outcomes of children with disabilities in education with the potential for scaling up; and inform the development and strengthening of regional and country level advocacy and programming for advancing disability-inclusive education across South Asia.

The regional report and country-specific profiles include the key findings of this mapping, disability-inclusive education practices, gaps and challenges, as well as recommendations for moving the disability-inclusive education agenda forward.

CapAble, an online resource platform, has recently been launched to give readers the power and knowledge to put disability inclusion into action. It is a one-stop shop for tools, resources and educational materials on disability inclusion in higher education.

The online platform has been primarily designed in to support Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program Partners, in partnership with Light for the World, and is useful for anyone interested in taking on a more active role in creating an enabling environment for people with disabilities.

Nora Ingdal, International Programs Director at Save the Children, Norway,  is a guest in episode four of the Atlas Alliance’s podcast series “Road to Inclusion” with the title: Global Disability Summit: An opportunity to realize education for all’.

Host Gagan Chhabra, Project Manager Inclusion at the Atlas Alliance, talks to Ingdal about the need to have children and youth with disabilities included in the education system.  They discuss which ways Save the Children can support the Global Disability Summit in general and the Global Disability Summit for children and youth with disabilities in particular.

They also talk about the vulnerability of children and youth with disabilities and the necessity to facilitate them to accentuate their authentic voices.

You can watch and listen to Nora Ingdal on YouTube, Spotify, and Soundcloud.

It’s official! NORRAG’s new website has launched.

NORRAG stands for Network for International policies and cooperation in education.

NORRAG’s core mandate is to address under-researched questions of quality and equity in key issues in education and development, and in amplifying under-represented expertise particularly from the South.

Take a look at the website and let them know what you think by filling out their survey.

BRAC’s innovative Play Lab model, developed in partnership with the LEGO Foundation, brings joyful, play-based early learning to young children ages three to five and provides children with the early start they deserve.

The University of Cambridge’s PEDAL Centre, BRAC, Columbia University, and the LEGO Foundation hosted this virtual event where BRAC and Columbia University released exciting new research findings from the Play Labs in Bangladesh and the importance of early childhood development (ECD).

You can see the webinar recording, presentations, and further explore BRAC’s Play Lab findings in Bangladesh in the research brief.

For more information on BRAC’s Play Labs and additional resources, please visit BRAC’s newly launched PlayBook knowledge hub.