Achieving Zero Out of School Children in Su Saharan Context

• In Event: Rethinking Education Systems: Equity, Evidence, and the Challenge of Supporting Holistic Learning Worldwide

Proposal

According to UNESCO’s 2024 Global Education Monitoring Report, 251 million children and youth worldwide remain out of school, a mere 1% decline over the past decade. This stagnation highlights persistent inequities, with 33% of school aged children in low income countries out of school compared to just 3% in high income nations. Over half of all out of school children live in sub Saharan Africa, the region most affected by educational exclusion. These figures underscore a wide access gap, with challenges compounded by conflict, poverty, and displacement. They point to an urgent need for targeted strategies that focus on equitable access, reintegration, and support for the most vulnerable children.
Many children face significant barriers such as poverty, displacement, disability, child labor, and cultural challenges. Overcoming these barriers requires comprehensive efforts from governments, communities, and international partners to ensure equitable access to quality education. Inclusive education lays the foundation for more just, cohesive, and peaceful societies by reducing inequalities, enhancing civic engagement, and empowering future generations.
This topic highlights the vital role of inclusive access to education in promoting social cohesion and sustainable peace by focusing on removing barriers to education and re-integration of out-of -school children. Education is presented not only as a fundamental human right but also as a powerful tool for fostering shared values, mutual respect, and understanding among diverse communities. Inclusive education systems help reduce marginalization and create a sense of belonging, which in turn mitigates the root causes of social tension and conflict.
The presentation describes strategies implied to remove barriers to education through addressing socio-economic constraints that hinder out-of-school children (OOSC) from accessing and remaining in school, by offering comprehensive financial and material support to poor and vulnerable families. Key interventions include covering essential needs such as school feeding, uniforms, scholastic materials, and assistive devices for children with disabilities. The project also provides grants to support school-based inclusive education and anti-dropout clubs, enabling them to design innovative activities to identify, enroll, and retain OOSC. Schools also receive grants to implement inclusive school improvement plans focused on creating safe and accessible learning environments. Furthermore, the project pays some fees to support the school feeding programs for needy children, and tailored assistive devices will be supplied to learners with disabilities, ensuring equitable access and retention in education for all.
Physical constraints that hinder access to education are also addressed through a range of infrastructure and accessibility improvements. School environment safety and inclusion assessments guide the development of improvement plans, identifying physical barriers and proposing practical solutions with active involvement from local stakeholders. Community-driven initiatives, such as Rwanda’s monthly community work known as Umuganda, support enhancements like safer school access roads. Additionally, the construction of new classrooms and gender-segregated, accessible latrines will reduce travel distances, overcrowding, and improve sanitation, contributing to better learning environments and retention. To further support inclusive education, the project supports schools to establish resource rooms equipped with learning materials for children with disabilities and others needing additional support, ensuring all learners can thrive in an accessible and supportive setting.
The project addresses structural and technical system constraints. Teachers will receive training and mentorship on inclusive education practices, including remedial program delivery and reasonable adjustments, to better support the reintegration and retention of OOSC. To improve data management, the project strengthened the existing government School Data Management System (SDMS) by rolling out digital tools for tracking absenteeism, supported by ICT infrastructure in schools. An identification tool, digitalized using Open Data Kit (ODK), is used by youth volunteers and field staff in registering out of school children identified. The DHIS2-SEMIS absence tracking system will allow schools to monitor individual student attendance and trigger timely community interventions. A data visualization platform was also developed to support data-driven decision-making by project staff, partners, and national education stakeholders.
The presenter will share best practices and key lessons learned in effectively engaging stakeholders including government entities, civil society organizations, educators, and especially local communities to ensure that out-of-school children are systematically identified, successfully enrolled, and retained in schools. This will include strategies for leveraging community-based structures to track and support out-of-school children, strengthening coordination among service providers, and promoting inclusive education. The presentation will also highlight the importance of community ownership and participatory planning in sustaining long-term commitments to inclusive education. Examples of grassroots engagement will be shared to show it has contributed to reducing dropout for marginalized children.

Authors

• Paulin NDAHAYO, Save the Children Rwanda

• Jules Gatete