As children resumes a new school year, UNESCO has called on all countries and stakeholders not to lose sight of children being left out of school.
Director of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Manos Antoninis in a press statement issued we need to rally new energies and call on countries to go the extra mile to help children still excluded from a quality education.
She said UNESCO is co-organizing a global conference with the Colombian Ministry of Education in Cali on 11-13 September to mark the 25th anniversary of the Salamanca Statement, a key declaration on inclusion and education.
The conference, according tk her will look at the bottlenecks and policy solutions to helping all children realize their right to a quality education, no matter their background and the factors that may deny this right, such as gender, wealth, migration status or disability.
“In addition, three activities are being launched in the build up to the forthcoming Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report published by UNESCO on inclusion and education and due in March 2020.
“First, a global survey addressed to teachers, parents and students aims to assess what they think of inclusion and education: whether they believe it desirable and under what conditions. It is accessible in multiple languages.
“Second, a call is inviting nominations of chapmpions of inclusive education around the world, whether they be pupils, teachers, parents, activists, schools, politicians or NGOs,” she said