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"We don't have disabled children in my school, maybe because the principal thinks it would be very difficult. I would tell him 'You are not alone – we will help you'." (child, Malatia Child Development Center, Yerevan, Armenia) Enabling Education ISSUE 11 – AUGUST 2007 Anniversary Issue EENET’s 10th Birthday www.eenet.org.uk 2 EENET - ENABLING EDUCATION, ISSUE 11, AUGUST 2007 Contents EENET news – 10th anniversary EENET news 2 Anniversary events In January 2007 we held EENET’s tenth anniversary seminar in London. This Editorial 3 was attended by representatives from about 20 organisations and academic Young people’s views institutions that work with or support EENET. Inclusive Technology (our website on early marriage and sponsor) also celebrate their tenth anniversary this year. They very generously education, northern Nigeria 4-5 invited EENET to share their anniversary reception. We are also very grateful to Inclusive Technology for Promoting inclusion encouraging and funding the through drama and art, production of EENET’s new Burkina Faso 6-7 anniversary CD-ROM, leaflet Using children’s drawings and poster. Inclusive to investigate racial inclusion Technology has supported in a school in England 8-9 EENET’s website since 1997, enabling us to reach readers Using students’ ideas in almost 200 countries. to make teaching more inclusive, Brazil 10 Susie Miles from EENET and the founders of Inclusive Technology celebrate 10 years Inclusive education: (children’s TV character, Bob the Builder, is from my perspective 11 cutting the birthday cake!) Inclusive private education, Thailand 12-13 New EENET resources for the anniversary year • 10th anniversary CD-ROM, containing: Evaluating EENET 14-15 - an interactive world map showing stories and pictures from some EENET: of our thousands of members looking to the future 16-17 - all of the articles from our first 10 newsletters, reorganised thematically with new editorials Swimming upstream 18-19 - a small exhibition of photos taken Teacher training in by school children conflict situations: - a PowerPoint presentation and poster/leaflet downloads that Karen State, Burma 20-21 introduce EENET’s work. Family Friendly! • Leaflet: this summarises EENET’s Working with deaf children aims and activities. and their communities • World map poster: this shows some around the world 22 of the inclusive education activities and local networking that is Supporting inclusive happening around the world among education in Afghanistan – EENET’s members. a father’s story 23 • Translations poster: this displays the Inclusive school design, terms ‘inclusive education’ in about Indonesia 24-25 30 languages and encourages people to do more translations of EENET newsletters and other useful documents. Making pictorial learning aids, Liberia 26 All of these materials are available free of charge from EENET, while stocks last. The first UN convention of the millennium: inclusive The past and the future education is a right! 27 The last 12 months have been very busy! During the second half of 2006, Regional news 28-29 a large-scale evaluation of EENET was conducted, funded by NFU Norway (a former donor to EENET). You can read a summary of the evaluation Your letters/emails 30 recommendations on pages 14-15. As well as reviewing our past Responding to achievements and challenges, we have also been planning EENET’s learner diversity: future. An outline of our next 5-year plan can be found on pages 16-17. in the European Union 31 Useful publications 32 Cover images: These images are taken from birthday cards made for EENET by children Editors: and young people participating in KAYDA – the Katwe Youth Development Ingrid Lewis and Susie Miles Association, Uganda. We would like to thank these wonderful young artists for their colourful contribution to our anniversary celebrations! EENET - ENABLING EDUCATION, ISSUE 11, AUGUST 2007 3 Editorial UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report on Education for All, published in 2007, estimates that 77 million children (aged 6–11 years) do not attend school, and that approximately one-third of these out-of-school children are disabled. The other two-thirds are said to be children from poor families, who live in poor households, and whose mothers have no education. EENET was set up ten years ago to create conversations – within Southern contexts and between Southern and Northern contexts – about what inclusion means and how to make it a reality for all children. The articles in this newsletter show how education can be an enabling, rather than a disabling, experience – for all Pictorial learning aids workshop, Liberia (see p.26) children. Education does not have to take place within the four walls of 24–25). An account of teaching communities in which they live”. a classroom, and it is a lifelong teachers how to make visual aids in Disabled people’s organisations experience. Sadly, though, formal Liberia (p. 26) can provide ideas for played a key role in the negotiations education is too often a how to make education more fun – and will be centrally involved in its disappointing experience – even in with very few resources. implementation. income-rich countries. Yet in Burma, community-based teacher trainers In this issue of ‘Enabling Education’ The recent evaluation of EENET’s working in a situation of violence several articles focus on the work provides another focus for this and conflict explain what a participation of children and young newsletter, along with some difference quality education can people in the development of more reflections on how to network make to a whole community (see inclusive education policy and inclusively. And for the first time we pp. 20–21). practice. For example, they include feature an article that discusses the accounts of using art and issue of private inclusive education Isolation from information can photography activities to involve (in Thailand, see pp.12–13). marginalise and further impoverish children and young people in excluded groups of learners, and research, awareness-raising and With all of the topics featured in this their families and communities. Our school improvement initiatives. They newsletter, we invite you to read readers tell us that the information also feature the voices of young critically, reflect on your own in this newsletter and on EENET’s people on issues such as child experience, and join in discussions website can be more valuable than marriage and education, and – with the authors, with EENET and money. Such information opens up inclusive education for blind with your own colleagues. opportunities and encourages students. people to take action. It also provides inspiration by helping to The implications of the ground- ‘make the familiar unfamiliar’ – breaking UN Convention on the stimulating us to think again, and Rights of Persons with Disabilities more deeply or analytically, about are discussed on page 27. This is a the situations and problems we see new and important lobbying tool. every day. Information about Article 24 states that all children and affordable and inclusive young people have the right to architectural design in an “access an inclusive, quality, free Indonesian school could stimulate primary and secondary education others to do the same (see pp. on an equal basis with others in the Children’s photography project, Thailand (see pp.12-13) 4 EENET - ENABLING EDUCATION, ISSUE 11, AUGUST 2007 Young people’s views on early marriage and education, northern Nigeria Danladi Mamman Early marriage is more common in the northern parts of Nigeria. Here, many parents prefer to marry off their daughters at a very young age, for cultural and economic reasons. The rate of illiteracy among females is higher here than in the south. Recent studies have highlighted improved primary and secondary enrolment rates for girls. Girls who have dropped out of school, or not been enrolled in the first place, are likely to be pushed into early marriage. Marriage usually prevents them from starting or resuming their education. Response to the problem counselling units in schools, the parents on the negative effects of In recent years, states in northern creation of gender sensitive curricula, withdrawing girls from school for Nigeria, such as Niger and Bauchi making school environments early marriage. You know many states, have enacted laws prohibiting conducive for learning, and involving parents here are still illiterate and the withdrawal of girls from school for communities and traditional rulers in don’t know the importance of female marriage, but this is not being schools affairs, etc. Many northern education. So the government should enforced. The Federal Government of state governments have established first of all increase awareness before Nigeria and the 19 Northern States secondary schools for married any other thing should be done.” Government have introduced females. In Niger state, for instance, (Maryam Kudu, 15, female student) initiatives to tackle early marriage there is the Women’s Day College in and its impact on education (e.g. Minna, the state capital. Enforce laws public sensitisation on girls’ “I dislike early marriage because it reproductive health and rights and Yet despite this progress, there is still creates many problem for females, the importance of allowing girls to much to be done to tackle early especially in education. Girls should complete senior secondary school; marriage if the goals of Education for be allowed to complete senior strengthening links between schools All are to be achieved. The voices of secondary school before pushing and communities to improve girls’ the children and young people them to marry. I learned that there is retention in school; changing girls’ affected by this practice need to be a law concerning the withdrawal of attitudes towards education; and heard if successful solutions are girls from school for early marriage. establishing more schools for really to be found. Why can’t our government enforce females only).

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