Beyond Access: Ensuring the Continuity of Education for Adolescent Girls with Disabilities

Observing the International Day of Education, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) published today a new report entitled Beyond Access Ensuring the Continuity of Education for Adolescent Girls with Disabilities on education for adolescent girls with disabilities.

"Beyond Access: Ensuring the Continuity of Education for Adolescent Girls with Disabilities" sheds light on barriers girls with disabilities face in accessing and continuing their education. Drawing on extensive interviews with young people and their families, it highlights key challenges and opportunities to improve inclusive education.

The report analyzes obstacles, including social norms, economic constraints, and the lack of accessible learning environments. It also provides targeted recommendations to governments, donors, and education stakeholders, calling for urgent action to create inclusive and protective educational settings.

Key Points:

• One hundred seventeen interviews were conducted with young people, including girls with disabilities and their parents, in Rwanda, Nepal, and Senegal. Of the 117 people interviewed, 85 were adolescent girls with disabilities.

• Globally, 63 million adolescents are out of school, and adolescent girls with disabilities are among the most excluded. They face challenges like stigma, discrimination, and a lack of support that make staying in school incredibly difficult.  

• In low- and middle-income countries, 40% of children with disabilities are out of primary school, and 55% are out of lower secondary school.

• For adolescent girls with disabilities, this risk of dropping out is even greater due to the intersection of age, gender, and disability. Only 41.7% of girls with disabilities have completed primary school, compared with 50.6% of boys with disabilities and 52.9% of girls without disabilities.

A Deaf girl from Nepal shared her disappointment for the future, saying, “I really want to continue my studies, but my family isn’t willing to support me... My parents want me to prepare for marriage even though I’m only 15. They want me to work and earn money to support the family.”

 "I know two girls with disabilities who have never been to school. The family kept them at home. The mother ended up making her children believe that they cannot succeed in life,” said a 16-year-old girl without a disability in an urban area in Senegal. “Parents prefer to keep them at home to protect them from possible ‘violence’ they may be victims of. They cultivate a mindset of helplessness in these children with disabilities. They are not socialized at all.”

 "Beyond Access: Ensuring the Continuity of Education for Adolescent Girls with Disabilities" was produced with funding from the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The full report is available here.