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review of the national curriculum. The Nepalese government, together with international donors and NGOs, has an important opportunity to influence these processes and implement the government’s obligations to ensure inclusive education for all children, including those with disabilities.

Inclusive Education Section, Ministry of Education, June 7, 2011. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Laxmiram Paudel, Director, National Center for Education Development, July 8, 2011.

Be it education or health, each right does have its minimum core that the government must do. Regarding the right to education, every child with a disability should have access.

- Dip Magar, Human Rights Officer, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal³⁰¹

Resource constraints are the most widely cited excuses for not promoting inclusive practice, even in the most well-resourced educational settings.³⁰² However, according to UNESCO, it costs governments less to educate all students together under an inclusive education approach, than to manage a system of separate schools for different children.³⁰³

The perception that a lack of resources prevents schools from adopting inclusive education stems from the treatment of inclusion as an add-on program, and thus a luxury in contexts where there is no funding for extra initiatives.³⁰⁴ According to a study by the World Bank, however, making buildings accessible represents less than 1% of total construction costs.³⁰⁵ According to Diane Richler, past President of Inclusion International, “governments need to take interim steps. It’s important to start toward an inclusive education system, and not wait for the system as a whole to transform.”³⁰⁶

Governments and donors also argue that barriers caused by lack of funding—such as large class sizes—make inclusive education impossible, particularly for children with disabilities, who are perceived as needing expensive equipment and one-on-one support.³⁰⁷ However, where attitudes are positive and welcoming, children with disabilities

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can be successfully integrated and supported by school administrators and teachers, even in large classes.³⁰⁸

An inclusive approach requires focused and strategic investment of existing resources to enable teachers to understand and respond to the needs of all the children in their classroom. For example, UNESCO noted that “the financial resources aimed at the students who repeat could be better spent on improving the quality of education for all, especially if we consider the low impact of repetition on the level of students’ outcomes and its negative effect on students’ self-esteem. Such investment would include teachers’ training, supply of material, ICTs [information and communication technologies] and the provision of additional support for students who experience difficulties in the education process.”³⁰⁹

Inclusive education does not have to be costly or involve extensive infrastructural change. Some countries have developed cost-effective measures to promote inclusive quality education with limited resources such as “multi-grade, multi-age and multi-ability classrooms, initial literacy in mother tongues, training-of-trainer models for professional development, linking students in pre-service teacher training with schools, peer teaching and converting special schools into resource centres that provide expertise and support to clusters of regular schools.”³¹⁰

Modifications to the material set-up of schools are sufficient or in some cases, it can be as simple as allocating classrooms on the ground floor to accommodate the needs of some students. Parents can and should play a critical role in developing community-based education for their children. For example, parent networks can serve as mutual support groups and parents can be trained in skills to work with their own children. Parents can also act as advocates in their dealings with schools and authorities.³¹¹

In any setting, school officials, teachers and parents can become more aware of the different needs of learners, and act on this to enable all children to learn more effectively.³¹²

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Models of Inclusive Education in Nepal

A project funded by the Danish government in the southern part of Nepal (Banke district) demonstrates that inclusive education can be achieved with limited resources. The teachers adopted different teaching methods, including working in groups so students at different skill levels could assist and encourage each other. The schools also benefited from international technical assistance, which monitored and followed up on progress and constraints. As a result of these efforts, children with sensory and intellectual disabilities were integrated with the rest of the class, and teachers reported that inclusive teaching methods improved discipline and the general working atmosphere.³¹³

A comprehensive approach that includes community-based rehabilitation is essential for the full implementation of the right to education. For example, the Resource Center for Rehabilitation and Development, which is part of the Community-Based Rehabilitation Organization, runs a day care center for children with intellectual, developmental and multiple disabilities in Bhaktapur district, just outside of Kathmandu. The organization provides rehabilitation services, including assistive devices, and trains teachers and administrators of mainstream schools on basic techniques to make classrooms inclusive. They have used a range of strategies to create awareness among teachers, parents and students about the need to bring children with disabilities into mainstream schools, including through meetings and child-to-child interactions in class and on the playground.³¹⁴ They have helped over 30 students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities integrate into general schools.³¹⁵

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• 
  Establish a Disability Commission within the government to advise on policy and program development and serve as a redress mechanism when rights are violated.
  

• 
  Appoint a focal point within each relevant Ministry to improve coordination and information-sharing, to develop plans of action and implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  

• 
  Establish new or strengthen existing channels for people with disabilities to lodge complaints on laws that are not implemented or enforced.
  
• 
  Increase public expenditure to implement and support inclusive education practices in the National Planning Commission's upcoming Three Year Interim Plan.
  

• 
  Work with the National Center for Educational Development to:
  

o Train all teachers, school administrators, caregivers and community development workers on inclusive education methods, including basic sign language and how teachers should avoid and address bullying, teasing or other discriminatory and degrading treatment of children with disabilities. Provide training in counseling for teachers and community development workers in each district to enable them to support children with diverse disabilities and their families. Provide training on how to address bullying or teasing by other children in the classroom and rest of the school.

• 
  Train and support parents of children with disabilities, including through regular parents’ meetings to exchange information and provide peer support.
  

• 
  Develop and implement a longer-term inclusive education plan that clarifies the concept of inclusive education in line with the CRPD and outlines steps to integrate children with disabilities, particularly intellectual, developmental or psychosocial disabilities, into mainstream schools.
  
• 
  Develop or strengthen early identification and intervention programs consistent with the inclusive education approach and take steps to ensure access to children with disabilities to early childhood development programs.
  
• 
  Develop guidelines and standards on inclusive classrooms for teachers and school administrators and develop procedures to ensure that they are met.
  

o Develop an appropriate curriculum and assessment system for children with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

• 
  Collect data on the enrolment, drop out, and the pass rates of children with disabilities in the Education Management Information System and disaggregate data by type of disability and gender.
  
• 
  Strengthen and regulate monitoring of schools, including special schools and resource classes, by district education officers and assessment center coordinators to ensure that the inclusive education approach is implemented.
  
• 
  Involve children with disabilities and their parents or family members in consultations and decision-making and monitoring processes. Develop strategies to increase community and family participation in school management committees and district assessment centers.
  
• 
  Allocate adequate funding for inclusive education, including targeted funding for
  children with disabilities, in budgets and requests for development assistance.
  
• 
  Implement the Supreme Court decision on the right to education for people with hearing impairments and the directive order on free education for children with disabilities.
  
• 
  Improve the transcription, production and distribution of Braille and large print
  textbooks, including by using information and communication technologies.
  
• 
  Provide residential facilities for children with disabilities in hilly/mountain areas to enable them to attend school.
  
• 
  Encourage persons with disabilities and other qualified individuals to apply for positions in the education field and make necessary reasonable accommodations for them.
  
• 
  Ensure that schools do not request fees from children with disabilities for admission, exams, books or uniforms.
  

• 
  Comprehensively review all domestic legislation, propose amendments to fully comply with the CRPD, and implement compliance and enforcement mechanisms.
  
• 
  Revise the National Policy and Plan of Action on Disability in line with the CRPD, together with DPOs and other stakeholders. Together with other relevant ministries, adopt a reasonable accommodation policy in line with the CRPD.
  
• 
  Improve data collection on children with disabilities, and disaggregate data by type of disability and gender.
  

• 
  Together with the Ministry of Education, carry out awareness-raising campaigns on the right to education, non-discrimination, and other rights of persons with disabilities, targeting the public at large, teachers, school administrators and parents.
  
• 
  Adopt national accessibility standards and ensure compliance in schools.
  

• 
  Issue disability identity cards to children with disabilities at the district administration office and work with the Ministry of Health to make doctors’ services available for assessment at the district office.
  
• 
  Re-assess and increase the monthly allowances given to children with disabilities.
  

• 
  Make health services, including mental health, available to children with
  disabilities in or near their communities, in compliance with the CRPD.
  

• 
  Together with the Ministry of Education, establish links between early intervention
  services, pre-schools and schools to facilitate the smooth transition of the child.
  

• 
  Incorporate information on how to respect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities, including children, into existing trainings of healthcare workers and other medical professionals.
  
• 
  Partner with disabled persons’ organizations in planning meetings to ensure that the perspectives of persons with disabilities, particularly children with disabilities, are included in all aspects of health programs.
  
• 
  Ensure that there are functioning, accessible grievance mechanisms to report barriers to health care and mistreatment by health facility staff.
  

• 
  Explicitly include disability as prohibited grounds for discrimination committed by public and private actors, in constitutional provisions on non-discrimination and in specific anti-discrimination laws or legal provisions.
  

• 
  Comprehensively review all domestic legislation and make amendments to fully comply with the CRPD, including revision of the definition of disability in the Disabled Welfare and Protection Act of Nepal 2039 (1982).
  

• 
  Provide for effective remedies in case of violations of the rights of children with disabilities, and ensure that those remedies are easily accessible to children with disabilities and their parents and/or caregivers.
  

• 
  Ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
  
• 
  Consult persons with disabilities and represent their views.
  
• 
  Establish a parliamentary committee to oversee issues related to people with disabilities and other marginalized groups.
  

• 
  Establish a disability desk or appoint a focal point within the commission.
  
• 
  Ensure the accessibility of children with disabilities and their parents to the premises of the commission for the purpose of lodging complaints or seeking any other support.
  
• 
  Proactively investigate violations of the rights of children with disabilities and monitor government implementation of recommendations.
  
• 
  Raise awareness of human rights violations of persons with disabilities, with a focus on children with disabilities.
  

• 
  Integrate children with disabilities into existing and future programs and policies, especially teacher training.
  
• 
  Strengthen the capacity of the Nepalese government to implement an inclusive education approach through the development of stronger planning,
  

• 
  More closely monitor the implementation of inclusive education by encouraging the government to collect and disaggregate data, including on the enrolment rate, repetition rate, and the pass rate of children with disabilities.
  
• 
  Ensure sufficient financing for inclusive education. Consider funding the government, disabled peoples organizations and NGOs for programs to support children with disabilities and realize their rights, particularly the right to education.
  
• 
  Strengthen data collection on children with disabilities, including in birth registration.
  
• 
  Support the Ministry of Education in developing clarity over the concept of inclusive education by developing, distributing and raising awareness of appropriate and easy­to-use inclusive education materials and encouraging public discussion.
  
• 
  Ensure that donor agency staff has the capacity to support the Ministry of Education to achieve EFA goals.
  

This report was researched and written by Shantha Rau Barriga, researcher and advocate on disability rights.

The report was reviewed and edited by Joseph Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Division; Rebecca Schleifer, advocacy director of the Health and Human Rights Division; Bede Sheppard, senior researcher in the Children’s Rights Division; Tej Thapa, researcher in the Asia Division; Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor; and Babatunde Olugboji, deputy program director.

Additional research support was provided by Nick Caivano and Anne Kelsey, interns in the Health and Human Rights Division. Alex Gertner, associate in the Health and Human Rights Division, Fitzroy Hepkins, José Martinez, Kathy Mills, and Grace Choi provided production assistance. Kathy Mills designed the map in the report.

Human Rights Watch is indebted to the children with disabilities and parents who shared their stories with us. We express our sincere gratitude to the disabled peoples’ organizations and nongovernmental organizations in Nepal who introduced us to children and their families for interviews. We also thank the many individuals and organizations that contributed to this report with their time, expertise, and information.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299		HUMAN RIGHTS W A T C H
www.hrw.org

Futures Stolen

Barriers to Education for Children with Disabilities in Nepal

Children with disabilities are entitled to attend school like all other children. Yet, tens of thousands of children with disabilities in Nepal are either deprived of this right or relegated to inferior, segregated education. The government of Nepal promotes an inclusive education system, whereby children with and without disabilities attend school together in their communities. However, in practice, Nepal has a system of separate schools for deaf, blind, and children with physical and intellectual disabilities and segregated classes for children with disabilities in mainstream schools. While international donors have contributed significantly towards the improvement of education in Nepal over the past decade, Nepal and its international partners should do more to ensure that children with disabilities are attending school and that the education system is accessible, appropriate, and of good quality for children with disabilities, particularly those with intellectual and develop­mental disabilities.

In Futures Stolen: Barriers to Education for Children with Disabilities in Nepal Human Rights Watch examines the barriers that children with disabilities in Nepal face in attending school and obtaining quality education. These children were often denied admission or had to leave school prematurely because of inaccessible schools, inadequately trained teachers, or lack of awareness among parents. Some parents of children with disabilities who were unable to find schools or support to educate their children claimed that they had no choice but to lock their children in a room or tie them to a post while they went to work or completed daily chores.

Nepal has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is obligated to ensure that children with disabilities can attend school with their peers. Domestic laws and policies further promote the right to an inclusive education for all children in Nepal.

Human Rights Watch calls on the government of Nepal, with the support of donors, to make schools inclusive and accessible and to honor its obligations to protect the right of all children with disabilities to receive a quality education without discrimination.

A resource class for children with intellectual disabilities at Mahendranagar Secondary School in the far western region of Nepal. The number of students in this class varies from 2 to 15. Human Rights Watch research found that children with disabilities have lower attendance and higher drop out rates than other children due to inadequately trained teachers, lack of appropriate teaching materials, lack of awareness of the right to education among parents and negative parental attitudes about the learning capabilities of their children, among other factors. © 2011 Shantha Rau Barriga/Human Rights Watch