Kosovo Human Development Report 2010 - UNDP Kosovo - United ...

point these groups more precisely, in
order to identify potential mechanisms
for their inclusion.
(i) Children with special needs: according
to OECD research based
on comparative country analysis,
in order to equip disadvantaged
students with equivalent learning
means, even in cases of severe disabilities,
they should be educated
in mainstream schools rather than
in separate institutions. 98 The education
of Kosovan children with
special needs, as in many countries
in the region, has historically been
a neglected area. Prior to 1999 and
immediately after the armed conflict,
children with special needs
were either accommodated in the
small number of special schools, or
were unable to attend school at all.
The policies and practices of classification
and placement of students
with special needs were based
mostly on the medical model of
disability and did not encourage
inclusion. In some cases children
with minor disabilities were enrolled
in mainstream schools without
any special accommodations
made for their educational needs. 99
Despite the current legislative progress,
children with disabilities continue
to have a high percentage of exclusion
in education. The barriers to social inclusion
that children with disabilities
face are poverty, lack of resources and
aid, lack of transportation to and from
educational facilities, cultural attitudes,
lack of special training for teachers,
and absences of appropriate infrastructure.
100
As a result, only 10 percent of children
with disabilities are enrolled in
mainstreamed schools. 101 The success
of ‘mainstreaming’ some groups of chil-
An important issue is that even if laws exist, they are not
necessarily applicable to disabled people, e.g. the law
on Education. The Municipality doesn’t provide access
for people with disabilities; even schools do not have the
necessary capacities to provide us with needed access. I am
not even talking about special restrooms and lifts, which are
nonexistent.
Disabled participant of a focus group
dren with special needs and reducing
the amount of segregated schooling
could be challenged when there are
no special budget allocations to support
inclusion of these groups. In total,
909 children with special needs enrolled
in the school system in 2009/10
(up from 508 in 2002). Of these, 57
percent are in special classes in mainstream
schools and 43 percent in special
schools. Most of the children have
intellectual disabilities. Gender inequalities
are high with girls accounting
for only 35 percent of the total.
(ii) Minority children: grave inequalities
persist in access to education
among ethnic groups. In 2005,
almost all Kosovo-Albanian and
Kosovo-Serb children were enrolled
in primary school. By contrast, only
77 percent of children aged 7-14
among other ethnic groups (RAE,
Turk, Bosniak, Gorani, and others)
attended schools. Registration for
girls among these groups was even
lower - at 69 percent. 102 Children
from non-Serb ethnic minorities
also spend less time in education
than their counterparts. According
to the UNDP Mosaic Survey (2009),
Kosovo-Albanians have spent an
average of 11.5 years in education,
Kosovo –Serbs 11.2 years, and other
minorities just 10.6 years. 103
Of all ethnic groups, Kosovo-RAE
children face the most complex barriers
to inclusion in education. Kosovo-
ACCESS TO EDUCATION AND EXCLUSION
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