Endorsement of Inclusive Education Call to Action by Global Partnership for Education

Today, on the 22 January, the Inclusive Education Task Group of the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) are pleased to announce that the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) have endorsed our Call to Action (CTA) for increased investment in disability-inclusive education. This is an important and vital step forward in our fight for global recognition to do more to fund education for children with disabilities. It coincides with a day of action to remind world leaders that there are just 10 days left before the Global Partnership for Education Replenishment Conference (in Dakar, Senegal), for donors, national governments and the private sector to #ShapeTheFuture for the most marginalised children, including children with disabilities.

The systematic neglect of children with disabilities is one of the most glaring oversights both in domestic and international education financing. Greater investment is needed to redress the neglect of the past and accelerate system-wide changes that embrace inclusion and the provision of support to meet the individual needs of learners with disabilities.

This call to action, now endorsed by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), calls on donors and governments to significantly step up action and show their commitment to deliver on the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals to ‘leave no-one behind’. It also calls specifically for an increase in financial contributions to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) to fulfil Goal 2 of the GPE Strategic Plan 2020, of increased equity, gender equality and inclusion for all in a full cycle of quality education, targeting the poorest and most marginalised, including children with disabilities.

Our aim is to now increase the number of signatories to the call to action to 200 organisations by the GPE conference on 2 February. The revised wording now allows for the private sector and governments to endorse it which will hopefully allow us to gain more endorsements.

Together we will be able to make a difference and shine a spotlight on this important but often neglected issue!

Join our Call to Action to Invest in Disability-Inclusive Education