Access to education in Africa: responding to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract

Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that disabled people should have full rights to education in inclusive settings. However, to ensure that educational polices and settings are designed to meet this criterion seems challenging to African countries that have ratified this Convention. This article arises from the 2nd African Network of Evidence-to-Action on Disability Symposium. This fluid network was established to address the gap between research and practice in the region. The article reports proceedings and the emerging themes from the Education, Training and Work Commission; one of the six commissions of this Symposium, focusing specifically on the education aspect. It also challenges various stakeholders to move from evidence to action to ensure the educational rights of disabled people in inclusive settings.

Keywords:

• disability
• disabled people
• inclusive education
• collaboration
• Africa
• African Network on Evidence-to-Action on Disability
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Global South

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the organisers and sponsors of the AfriNEAD Symposium 2009. They are also grateful to the Education, Training and Work Commission commissioners, presenters, and delegates whose contributions informed this article. Finally, the authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their objective feedback and thank Jyothi Chabilall and Alphonce Dzapasi for editing this article, whose input enriched this article.

Notes

1. See www.afrinead.org.