Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM

• Boys with physical disability are increasingly accessing school, whereas boys with sensorial disability ormental difficulty (with the exception of epilepsy) are lagging behind. For girls the main issue remains theaccess of all girls to school. The gap that we observe with regard to physical disability can be explainedby easier access of boys with these disabilities due to social norms of acceptability and minimal effortrequired within classes in order to include them within the education process.• In the main towns, for children aged between 7 and 14, the education effort has been considerable, butis not reaching children with disability, and is further increasing this inequality. It is obvious that wherethere is an absence of schools of any form in the area, the impact of disability on access is irrelevant.However, when structures do exist, the lack of access is attributed to the disability, before being explainedby gender.Gender is acomplex factorto understandand to tacklethrough policiesand programmessince it usuallyentails grapplingwith deep-rootedbeliefs andcultural practicesthat cannotbe changedovernightTo Sum Up Regarding Efficiency:• When people did access some form of schooling, a majority of them learnt to read and write.• Formal school systems achieve high literacy rates for children with disability as well as the non-disabled,which is encouraging.• Gender differences are less regarding literacy than those observed regarding access. Results suggestthat school contributes to reducing inequalities in terms of basic learning outcomes, the first one beingliteracy.• Within schools, special focus needs to be given to children with sensorial disability who require more effortof adaptation of methods and teacher training with regard to learning to read, write and communicate ingeneral.Steps Ahead:Enhancing Equality Between Persons with Disability and Non-Disabled Persons: The MajorChallenge AheadThe most disturbing finding of the survey with regard to education is that the efforts of different decisionmakers are not reaching persons with disability equally. One issue is the building of schools and structures.But here again, access needs to be regarded in the larger sense: physical accessibility, and ensuring that thereis a school there to access, but access also concerns learning environments, teaching methods and facilitiesthat exist. This is essential when we look at girls’ education.Access to Education for Girls: A Serious ConcernGender is a complex factor to understand and to tackle through policies and programmes since it usuallyentails grappling with deep-rooted beliefs and cultural practices that cannot be changed overnight. The issueof education for girls will require a lot of thought and discussion among different actors involved, includingthe Ministry of Women Affairs. At school, sensitization towards girls and women’s rights should start withinthe classes for all children. In general, at all ages, males have more access to school than females. At all ages,women without disability have less access to school than men who become disabled before school-startingage. The effect of gender is significant within almost all indicators that have been presented in this report.Gender seems to have more importance than being disabled in terms of access to education. The reasonsbehind these differences are many and inter-twined. They range from beliefs and cultural practices to distanceof school, the availability of female teachers and adequate facilities such as toilets. These reasons need tobe taken into account systematically and according to the specific needs. The need for consideration of theabove issues is also evident when the reasons given for not sending girls to school are examined. A number ofpersons believe that schools are not for girls. This is in contradiction to the fact that a large majority of personsthink that education is useful in general (over 90% of our sample). All of the above clearly shows that beyondmaking school accessible in terms of distance, facilities and teachers; a huge effort needs to be made in thearea of gender stereotypes and gender specific attitudes. This should be done at every level including teachertraining, curricula and material development, and teaching methodologies in order to encourage girls withdisability to access education at par with other children.42 Understanding the Challenge Ahead