Statement by

Steven Allen

Regional Director, UNICEF, Regional Office for CEECIS

at the

Conference on Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities

Moscow, Russian Federation

27-29 September 2011

The Right of Children with Disabilities to Education: a Rights-Based

Approach to Inclusive Education

Mr Adviser to the President, Deputy-Ministers, Vice-Mayor,

Distinguished participants, Colleagues from Partner Organisations,

Colleagues from the UN, Friends,

It is a great pleasure and an honour to be with you in Moscow today.

This Conference on Inclusive Education for Children with Disabilities

constitutes an excellent forum to take stock of progress made so far in

the region at policy level and in the field, as well as a platform for

discussing major stumbling blocks and ways to address them.

This conference is also an excellent opportunity to share experiences,

learn from each other and improve understanding, coordination,

collaboration and synergies between regional actors and stakeholders

involved in inclusive education.

As we all know, children with disabilities represent a significant

proportion of the out-of-school population in the region, a population

that has particular educational needs. Indeed, children with disabilities

are subject to severe discrimination, segregation, and exclusion from all

social aspects of life.

The most recent officially recognized figure of children with disabilities in

this region stands at 1.5 million. However, when compared to

international benchmarks that place the global percentage of children

with disabilities at 2.5 per cent, this figure suggests that over a million

children with disabilities are not included in the data, and are left

invisible. They are unaccounted for, and are likely to be out-of-school.

For children with disabilities in Central Eastern Europe and the

Commonwealth of Independent States (CEECIS), institutionalization

remains the overwhelming policy approach, in large part due to a long

tradition of ‘defectology’. This continues to be the academic discipline

governing the care and treatment of children with disabilities. The

number of children in institutional care in the region is the highest in the

world. It is estimated that more than 626,000 children live in institutions

and as many as 60% of them are registered as children with disabilities.

The continued consideration of children with disabilities as ‘defective’

from the norm as well as the high number of children with disabilities

being institutionalized or out of school stands in direct contrast to the

global moral imperative of a rights-based approach to education.

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UNICEF’s work is rooted in the Convention on the Rights of the Child

which calls for equal rights and opportunities for every child regardless

of his or her ability. And because of our organizational focus on equity,

we support the policies and strategies leading to inclusive education.

Moreover, Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disability, which has been signed by most countries in the region but

ratified by only seven of them, specifically calls on the governments to

ensure that education systems are inclusive of children with disabilities.

Besides inclusive education being a child’s right, there are three

compelling arguments from research that support the inclusion of

children with disabilities in the mainstream educational environments:

academic performance, economic benefits and social cohesion.

Inclusive education benefits all learners. Research shows that inclusive

education can lead to better learning outcomes for all children, not just

children with disabilities. Inclusive education promotes tolerance and

enables social cohesion as it fosters a cohesive social culture and

promotes equal participation in society. Inclusive education is more cost

effective than separated schooling. And finally, it provides for inclusive

labor markets, which are instrumental for a more efficient social

economy.

Inclusive education needs to be understood as integral to the whole of

the education system – not just an add-on. Inclusive education is not

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only about addressing issues of input, such as access, and those related

to processes such as teacher training, but it involves a shift in underlying

values and beliefs held across the system. It requires that all children,

including children with disabilities, not only have access to schooling

within their own community, but that they are provided with

appropriate learning opportunities to achieve their full potential. This

approach is underpinned by an understanding that all children should

have equivalent and systematic learning opportunities in a wide range of

school and additional educational settings, despite the differences that

might exist.

One important constraint for inclusion is the social stigma. Research

found that the most effective way to influence deeply rooted prejudice

about disability is personal contact with people with special needs, and

pointed to the importance of starting inclusive initiatives as early in

childhood as possible.

In this context it is essential to recognize the unique role that parents of

children with disabilities can play in bringing about the change in the

societal attitudes towards their children. However, the parents cannot

do this alone. The support has to come from the neighborhood, from the

local community and the local services, from inclusive policies and close

monitoring of their implementation, and especially from decisive

sanction of any form of discrimination.

I know that every government, organization, and individual gathered

here in this room is committed to building a socially inclusive society. But

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this cannot be achieved unless every single child is included. An

inclusive education system creates crucial spaces for bringing about

social change. All children, without exception, gain from learning from

each other, and break down stereotypes. Inclusive Education for

Children with Disabilities puts us one step further towards a socially

inclusive society.

UNICEF is committed to work with partners and governments in the

region to take forward the agenda for action that emerges from this

Conference. The right of every child to develop to his or her full potential

is at the heart of our mandate. Every child has to be given a chance – at

the earliest opportunity.

I realise that this is not going to be easy. I am equally convinced that we

can do it. The denial of the rights of children with disabilities to

education has been going on for too long. The signature and ratification

of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability provide us the

momentum needed. We can do it, together.

Thank you

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