Leaving no child Behind-Ensuring access, equity and inclusion in education programming in East Africa

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Sustainable Development Goal 4 is drafted thus ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all (UN SDGs Website).
This is a pointer to the very central need for equity and inclusion as part and parcel of education provision (United Nations Girls Education Initiative Report, April 2010). It is a departure to the thinking in most developing countries that view education access, equity and inclusion as divorced from education quality.
For SDG 4 to be achieved therefore, there is need to ensure achievement of both sides of the coin-access and inclusion on one hand and education quality on another (UNESCO Guide for ensuring equity and inclusion in Education, 2018).
Governments have a duty to ensure that their education policies, and practices, are based on the principles of equity and inclusion, with a strong emphasis on promoting gender equality. In practice, this means valuing the participation and achievement of all learners irrespective of their characteristics; recognizing the benefits of student diversity; collecting and evaluating evidence and responding to the barriers to access, participation and achievement and engaging all education stakeholders to foster the conditions for equitable learning opportunities. While strides have been made towards improving equity in education, the most marginalized students and their communities are still not being reached. Girls in particular face multiple barriers, especially as they reach adolescence. Although barriers to education related to gender, disability, ethnicity, conflict, disasters and poverty are largely recognized, we need to take urgent action to address them and to understand how multiple and cumulative disadvantages intersect and impact the right to education (Varkey Foundation, 2022).
This panel will be sharing experiences from 3 practitioners on their experiences handling issues of equity and inclusion in 2 countries in East Africa-Uganda and Tanzania.
The first presenter will be sharing their experience implementing a teacher Continuous Professional Development program that has a gender equity lens. This will be a reflection of how gender based pedagogy can be embedded in a teacher training program, through a system strengthening model, to ensure that all teachers-both male and female are engaged in ensuring gender inclusion in their classroom practice, and hence ensuring that no one is left behind in education access, equity and inclusion and ultimately quality.
The second presenter will be sharing their experience implementing an education equity program that ensures access, equity and inclusion for children with special needs in Tanzania. The program ensures early identification, better assessment, and proper placement for quality learning for all children.
The third presenter will be sharing their experience implementing a virtual technology based program to teachers and head teachers during the COVID19 school closure period in Uganda. It will be a sharing of longitudinal study findings on what works and what doesn’t with technology based education programs, and the learnings on how to ensure equity and inclusion in education programming using Ed-tech.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Chair

• Emmanuel Lubaale, Regional Education Learning Initiative Africa (RELI)

Individual Presentations

• Technology in education-COVID Response programming and equity in a developing country context - Modern Musiimenta Karema, Stir Education

• Gender responsive pedagogy-an approach to making all children love learning - Brenda Akite Otika, Stir Education