Qualitative Study Exploring access to learning opportunities for children with disabilities during school closures of COVID-19 in Bangladesh

Mrittika Barua, Sayema Akter, Shamsul Kabir, Faria Binte Arif, Abdul Mannan, Protyasha Ghosh, Jannatul Hridhi, Sumata Chakma, Kamrul Hasan
April 2022

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant challenges to education globally, as schools were closed, and alternative means had to be sought to enable students to continue with their studies. In the resource-constrained setting of Bangladesh, the pandemic impacted on the education of 37 million children (UNICEF 2021), of whom children with disabilities have been amongst the most severely affected. Already disadvantaged compared to children without disabilities in terms of access to education, the pandemic and the challenges of accessing remote learning have deepened inequalities between children with disabilities and their able-bodied peers. This study was undertaken as part of DID Task Order 13 Bangladesh, the goal of which is for girls and boys with disabilities to have equal access to quality education and support. Interventions are based in the two districts of Narsingdi and Siranjganj and the subdistricts of Narsingdi Sadar, Tarash and Sirajganj Sadar. The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of children with disabilities, their parents and teachers in respect of access to learning opportunities during school closures and beyond. Its findings inform the interventions of the project, specifically the support required for individual learners with disabilities and their families as well as for the schools where they are enrolled. Method: This qualitative study was carried out in the three sub-districts of Bangladesh mentioned above and based in schools denoted for project intervention. Children with disabilities were purposively selected from school records to represent a range of ages, grades, type of disability and different sexes. Screening was conducted using the UNICEF Child Functioning Module (CFM). Data was collected between October 2021 and February 2022 and included in-depth interviews with 22 children with disabilities, 23 caregivers and six teachers, as well as through household and school observations. Findings: Based on the CFM, 91% of the children interviewed have difficulties in more
than one functional domain, with the most common being difficulties in controlling behaviour, learning and communication. The study found the CFM to be more sensitive to identification of functional difficulties than the teachers’ assessments. Through the interviews, a range of challenges were raised regarding continuation of learning during the pandemic. Almost all the children mentioned that they missed their schools, and particularly their friends. Caregivers expressed concern about their children being out of touch with their studies, acknowledging that schools provide an environment that helps students learn. When movements were restricted, and children could not go to
coaching classes or be with their friends, some children displayed regressive behaviour such as increased agitation because of the social isolation. One of the most common supports that facilitated learning during school closures was the appointment of private tutors. In addition, family members helped their children study at home. Where teachers were able to visit children and provide structure and support for home learning (in the form of assignments), this significantly contributed to children’s motivation to continue with their education. While the caregivers tried to support their children as far as possible, several factors impacted negatively on learning viz. lack of motivation of children to continue with their studies, inadequate support from teachers and financial constraints undermining the ability of families to cover the costs of education. Especially challenging was the lack of access to technological support and limited time and skills of parents to support their children with disabilities, in addition to their household responsibilities and other children to look after. Although caregivers talked about the lack of support from teachers, the teachers, on the other hand, mentioned that they were not fully equipped with knowledge and skills to appropriately support learners with disabilities. In some instances, children with disabilities were kept behind a grade for not passing their class assessments or were allowed to progress to the next grade without achieving the required competencies. Observations of homes revealed that almost all of the children with disabilities interviewed were living in low-income households, with overcrowding, outside washrooms, minimal furniture and no conducive study areas. Some houses had mud flooring and tin rooves, posing multiple safety and physical barriers for children with disabilities. School visits enabled identification of inaccessible infrastructure, including access roads, entrances and washrooms. Although all of the schools visited had ramps, none of these were fully usable and none had rails. As schools reopen, interviewees identified various strategies that would contribute to encouraging learners with disabilities to return to school and participate effectively in learning. These include specific focus on learners with disabilities by teachers in order to
provide targeted support; ending discrimination against those who do not perform well academically; and differentiation of the curriculum and assessments for learners with intellectual disabilities. These interventions, together with ensuring accessible school infrastructure, will contribute to creating a more enabling environment for learners with disabilities.
Recommendations: The COVID-19 pandemic has further deepened vulnerability of low income families and exclusion of children with disabilities from education. In order to address the potential widening gap that could be created by a surge of dropouts following school closures, various interventions need to be prioritized. These include building on the strategies of resilience already developed by families to support learning of their children; and enhancing parents’ confidence in providing support themselves. In addition,linkages between home and school need to be strengthened and appropriate learning resources made available to children at home, taking cognizance of the inaccessibility of
technology and remote programmes for children with disabilities (both in terms of devices and connectivity). It is essential that teachers’ role in supporting learning at home for children with disabilities be strengthened; and that teachers are equipped with skills to cater for disability and diversity among learners. This needs to be accompanied by removal of barriers in the built environments of schools and their surrounds.

Disability Inclusion Helpdesk, July 2021 Evidence digest: disability-inclusive education in focus

SDDirect
July 2021

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Disability Inclusion Helpdesk evidence digest highlights the latest evidence, guidance, and programme learning on inclusive education. Within it you’ll also find the latest evidence, guidance and policy news on a range of other disability inclusion topics including stigma, discrimination, and violence; poverty, social protection, and employment; inclusive health systems; and disability inclusion in humanitarian settings.

A Global Agenda for Inclusive Recovery: Ensuring People with Intellectual Disabilities and Families are Included in a Post-COVID World

Inclusion International
June 2021

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This report documents the experience of exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences reveal pre-existing structural inequalities that affected the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and their families before COVID-19, during the pandemic, and beyond, and this report raises up the voices of those most excluded in a time of global crisis and demands an inclusive COVID-19 recovery.

 

This report includes the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities and families across eight different issue areas. Across these themes, we examined how and why people with intellectual disabilities were left out and excluded in pandemic responses, what pre-existing conditions and inequalities contributed to their vulnerability and exclusion, and how future policy structures could begin to address both this immediate and systemic exclusion.

 

Together, these experiences and policy solutions form our global agenda for inclusive COVID-19 recovery, an action plan to ensure that government efforts to ‘build back better’ are inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.

Pre-Primary and Primary Inclusive Education for Tanzania (PPPIET) – Foundation phase : Desk Review presented by the Task Team February 2020

JUDGE, Emma
August 2020

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The Disability Inclusive Development (DID) consortium is working together on the Pre-Primary and Primary Inclusive Education in Tanzania (PPPIET) programme whose ultimate goal is to foster quality sustainable inclusive education for all children with disabilities (CWD) at scale across Tanzania in mainstream pre-primary and primary government schools.  To achieve this, it aims to support collective, coordinated systems change by establishing an agreed common model of basic inclusive pre-primary and primary education in mainstream government schools, and galvanising significant progress in spreading its systematic implementation for all CWD across Tanzania over six years.

 

This task requires the cooperation of government, civil society and DPOs to achieve real change.  No single organisation or government department can achieve inclusive education on its own.  Cooperation between all government ministries, including education, health, finance and social welfare are key to providing individual support to learners with disabilities.  Pooling the skills and resources, and exchanging learnings to achieve quality inclusive education of children can help all involved.  Working together will build collective commitment and action, not just amongst DID consortium members but also across government, donors, education actors and the private sector. 

 

The first part in this process was for the Task Team to conduct a desk review to establish an overview of the current educational context with regards to children with disabilities, including legislative, policies and practice, inclusive education strategies, disability contexts, cultural perspective, interventions, existing assessment and quality assurance processes, and opportunities and challenges. 

Disability Inclusive Development - Nigeria Situational Analysis

THOMPSON, Stephen
June 2020

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This situational analysis (SITAN) addresses the question: “what is the current situation for persons with disabilities in Nigeria?”. It has been prepared for the Disability Inclusive Development programme (which works on access to education, jobs, healthcare, and reduced stigma and discrimination for persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, Jordan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, and Tanzania), to better understand the current context, including COVID-19, and available evidence in Nigeria. It will be helpful for anyone interested in disability inclusion in Nigeria, especially in relation to stigma, employment, education, health, and humanitarian issues.

Pre-Primary and Primary Inclusive Education for Tanzania (PPPIET) – Foundation Phase : Report on Participatory Research to Inform Design of New Inclusive Education Model in Tanzania

JUDGE, Emma
June 2020

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The Disability Inclusive Development (DID) consortium, a UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded initiative, is working together on the Pre-Primary and Primary Inclusive Education in Tanzania (PPPIET) programme whose ultimate goal is to foster quality sustainable inclusive education for all children with disabilities at scale across Tanzania in mainstream pre-primary and primary government schools. To achieve this, it aims to support collective, coordinated systems change by establishing an agreed common model of basic inclusive pre-primary and primary education in mainstream government schools, and galvanising significant progress in spreading its systematic implementation for all children with disabilities across Tanzania. 

 

This task requires the cooperation of government, civil society and Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) to achieve real change.  No single organisation or government department can achieve inclusive education on its own. Pooling the skills and resources and exchanging learnings to achieve quality inclusive education of children can help all involved. Working together will build collective commitment and action, not just amongst DID consortium members but also across government, donors, education actors and the private sector. 

 

Part of this process was to conduct a participatory field research to gather evidence on the current provision of support services needed for inclusive education and identify gaps that need to be filled in the future. The exercise also served to identify key challenges that need addressing to facilitate the removal of legal, policy, systemic, physical, communication and language, social, financial and attitudinal barriers. The findings from the research were intended to identify the priority components that need addressing in the design of an inclusive education design model and the drivers of accountability, i.e. the agencies/stakeholders responsible for implementing the required system changes.

 

Summary of key findings

The Government of Tanzania has continually demonstrated its support and commitment to inclusive education evidenced by the many comprehensive policies for inclusive education, including the National Inclusive Education Strategy (NSIE) 2018 – 2021.  Through these policies, it is actively working to improve the educational environment but the journey is long and requires significant system changes for the policies to be effectively implemented, which needs collaboration, cooperation, planning, and strategic resourcing across multiple ministries, NGOs, DPOs, and the private sector. 

 

To achieve inclusive education, a rights-based approach to education needs to be adopted, focusing on identifying and removing the barriers to access and quality learning for every child, including appropriate infrastructure changes in schools, changing attitudes, and providing additional support to girls and boys with disabilities through learning support assistants.  There also needs to be a fundamental shift towards child-centred pedagogy in teacher training and curriculum development to meet the needs of all learners, including having a mandatory module on inclusive education in all teacher training curricula.  Over time, this will help develop teachers’ confidence and positive attitudes towards teaching children with disabilities and achieve impact at scale.  Strengthening the capacities of all teachers, improving classroom management, increasing awareness about inclusive education for all stakeholders, and improving access to screening and early identification, health, rehabilitation services, and affordable assistive devices are all contributing factors to achieving inclusive education in Tanzania.

 

Systems change to improve learning and support for children with disabilities takes time and requires a significant investment of resources and budget allocation by government and service providers.  However, inclusive education can be cost-effective compared with the cost of segregation and special schools, particularly where ministries work together to ensure a more ‘strategic allocation of existing funds, promoting universal design and co-operation agreements among multiple ministries’.   Developing partnerships with the private sector to improve the physical infrastructure of schools and access to affordable assistive devices can also help reduce the cost of inclusion.

 

Inclusive education is a cross-cutting issue that requires the commitment and accountability of multiple stakeholders across government ministries to ensure its effective implementation.  This includes the MOEST, MOHCDGEC, MOFP, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the President's Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG). 

 

It is anticipated that to achieve successful implementation and scaling up of the model design for inclusive education, there will need to be a systematic and phased approach to implementing the recommendations in this report over the short, medium and long term.  It is acknowledged that this process will take considerable time to implement and can only be successfully achieved over a period of years with the support and increased understanding of all stakeholders.  There is no quick-fix solution to inclusive education.  It requires changing long-established systems and adjusting services, including health and education, training, and attitudes.  There is also no financial short cut. 

 

However, while some recommendations require significant investment, others can be achieved in the current context without significant monetary investment.  For example, changing the curriculum for all teacher training to ensure inclusive education is included as a standard module will help transform the approach of teachers and the inclusion of children with disabilities in learning.  Raising awareness of inclusive education for all stakeholders, including policy-makers and implementers will also help increase understanding of the long-term system changes required and reduce stigma and discrimination.  Inclusive education can only be achieved in an inclusive society and it needs collective effort from the government, parents, community, and all stakeholders for effective implementation.