DIVERSASIA - Best practices

Inclusive education refers to equal education given to students with disabilities in every school in Bangladesh. No institution can omit the admission of any student with disabilities for any reason.*

By definition based on national laws and policies special education needs includes children with special needs, child workers, children living in difficult circumstances or remote areas, and those belonging to ethnic minorities.

The Seventh Five Year Plan FY2016–FY2020 reports that, overall, there had been insufficient
support extended to learners with disabilities and special needs. Interventions on inclusive
education are limited to children with mild physical disabilities, leaving children with more
severe disabilities excluded from education.

The national government endeavours to augment support for inclusive education within the next five years. This is reflected in the Eighth Five Year Plan (2021–2025), which makes significant provisions for strengthening access and quality of education and other services for children with disabilities. Among these is a target of increasing the percentage of “primary schools [that] have adapted infrastructure and material” for children with disabilities from 34 per cent to 80 per cent by 2025.

There are adequate provisions in existing laws and policies to build a foundation for the country’s efforts in ensuring learners with disabilities learn in inclusive settings. However, the legislative environment can be further improved by guaranteeing non-discrimination based on disability and clearly articulating all learners have the right to learn alongside their peers in inclusive mainstream classrooms. Furthermore, definitions related to disability inclusion must be attuned with international conventions.

CRPD conceptualizes disability from a rights-based perspective. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) defines functioning and disability in
a similar way as “a dynamic interaction between health conditions and contextual factors, both personal and environmental”. Both definitions consider barriers in the environment that are disabling, shifting the focus from categorizations of impairments towards a broader view that emphasizes the person behind the labels.

The concept of inclusive education must also be expanded from a disability-focused notion to a wider definition endorsed by CRPD that involves systematic reforms to facilitate the inclusion of all children, especially the most vulnerable. Aligning the country’s definitions of disability and inclusive education with international normative frameworks will help bring interventions in line with the social model.