Inclusion and education

participation are isolated initiatives carried out as 
pilot projects or implemented by non-government 
organizations (NGOs). Communities can help 
democratize education, foster dialogue and bring 
sidelined voices into decision making. Schools need 
to communicate well and provide clear information to 
all parents, including those harder to reach. Parents 
also need a voice in decisions based on medical and 
psychological assessments; inclusive alternatives 
need to be made available.
4. Make space for non-government actors to 
challenge and fill gaps: Ensure that they work 
towards the same inclusion goal.
Organized civil society activity has played 
fundamental advocate and watchdog roles regarding 
the right to inclusive education. In Romania, a 
grassroots push for desegregation of schools for 
Roma led to legislation and policy changes. Armenia’s 
development of a national inclusive education policy 
is largely attributed to effective support by and 
collaboration with non-government organizations 
NGOs. Awareness campaigns help shift public opinion 
in favour of inclusion. In North Macedonia, two-
thirds of the population was exposed to a campaign 
aiming to increase support for inclusion of people 
with disabilities in society: 46% of those exposed 
said environmental barriers needed to be overcome, 
compared with 32% of those not exposed. In total, 
24 education systems have legislation or policy 
setting out a role for organizations representing 
vulnerable groups, though not necessarily in both 
advocacy and watchdog tasks. Governments 
should create conditions enabling NGOs to monitor 
fulfilment of government commitments and stand 
up for those excluded from education.
NGOs are also filling gaps in service provision, 
from education delivery to teacher training, either 
on contract with the government or on their own 
initiative. Valuable non-state practices should be 
adopted in national policy. Governments must 
provide leadership and maintain dialogue with NGOs 
to ensure that such services lead to inclusion, meet 
standards, do not replicate what other providers do 
or compete for limited funds. Instead, they should be 
sustainable, embedded in and aligned with national 
strategies, plans and policies.
5. Ensure cooperation across government 
departments, sectors and tiers: Inclusion in 
education is but a subset of social inclusion.