‘Delivering’ education; maintaining inequality. The case of children with disabilities in Afghanistan

Abstract

Education for children with disabilities in Afghanistan, particularly disabled girls, continues to lag behind despite laudable efforts of the Ministry of Education to promote universal access for all. The opportunity for education constitutes not just a means of achieving learning outcomes but also a space for social interaction, individual development and psychosocial support, which are paramount in Conflict-Affected Fragile States (CAFS). However, many persisting barriers still need to be overcome in Afghanistan to allow education for all and change negative attitudes towards education of children with disabilities. In this paper we argue that viewing education as a basic commodity, which is the widespread practice in CAFS, is not conducive to expanding human freedoms and capabilities. More specifically, through analyses of a national survey, we demonstrate that despite considerable resources, increasing access to education in Afghanistan has maintained processes of marginalisation of the already excluded.

Keywords:

• capability approach
• disabilities
• education
• prejudice
• stigma

Notes

1. The grade system in Afghanistan is as follows: primary school spans grades 1–6, middle school spans grades 7–9, and secondary school spans grades 10–12.

2. The Ministry of Education of Afghanistan has established two-level management training programmes for school staff in 2009.

3. To overcome identified gaps in humanitarian response to various past crises, the UN’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) established nine ‘clusters’ in 2005. Clusters are composed of UN agencies, NGOs and other international organisations around a sector or service provided during a humanitarian crisis. There were initially nine identified clusters (Protection, Camp Coordination and Management, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Health, Emergency Shelter, Nutrition, Emergency Telecommunications, Logistics, and Early Recovery). Each of them is led by a designated agency. Two additional clusters, Education and Agriculture, were later added. The IASC has produced operational guidance on designated cluster/sector leads in emergencies. The objective was to provide better coordinated, consistent and timely assistance. Disability constitutes a sub-cluster within the health cluster.