Take action to end exclusion in education

Our joint consortium statement

Ahead of the Global Action Week for Education from 28 April – 5 May 2025, we’re calling on governments and the international development community to accelerate efforts to embed inclusion in mainstream education so children with disabilities can learn and thrive in their local schools.

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. We implore donors and international agencies involved in education programming to use our practical learning to end exclusion in education and adopt the following recommendations:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 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.

We’re calling on global decision-makers to accelerate progress towards quality inclusive education. Will you join us and sign our open letter?