Kaltouma was born with a visual impairment. She lives with her parents, originally from the Central African Republic, in Sido, in southern Chad.

The nearest school that can accommodate children with visual impairments is in Sarh, more than 120 kilometres from her village, and her parents can’t afford to send her there. Unlike her friends, Kaltouma did not go to school.

Everything changed in 2015, when the school in Kaltouma’s village adopted an inclusive approach and admitted students with special needs. Kaltouma was able to enroll.

She explains, “My parents are so proud of me. I dream big for the future. I want to become a teacher so I can help other kids like me. Inclusive education has not only given me access to school, it has also given me hope and self-confidence.”

Making education more inclusive for children with special needs

The educational system suffers from a lack of financial resources, family poverty and insecurity, which leads to population displacement.

The emergency creates major obstacles to education access for vulnerable groups. Children with special educational needs, particularly girls with disabilities like Kaltouma, are often excluded from school.

Furthermore, there is a lack of knowledge in Chad about how children with special needs can truly be considered in sector planning and accommodated in schools.

Thanks to US$10 million in funding from GPE for 2021-2024, managed by UNESCO, the government implemented the Project for the Urgent Reinforcement of Education and Literacy in Chad (PUREAT), which included making the educational system more inclusive for children with disabilities.

The project targeted four regions—Lac, Logone Oriental, Moyen Chari and Kanem—where population movements and limited local capacity create major challenges for education.

Identifying specific needs and training teachers

UNESCO and the Ministry of Education partnered with the NGO Association for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (Association pour la Coopération Internationale et l’Aide Humanitaire—ALISEI), which works on inclusion and special education in the four regions, to strive to make education more inclusive.

ALISEI has developed and used data collection tools to identify children with specific needs and the types of support they need. In 28 schools, 445 students (including 189 girls) were identified as having special needs, including visual and auditory impairments, developmental disorders, psychological trauma and degenerative diseases.

More than 150 teachers have been trained to use inclusive educational strategies. ALISEI’s achievements include training 60 participants from various disabled people’s associations in psychosocial support for disabled children and in advocacy for their right to inclusive education.

Through these interventions, students like Kaltouma with special needs who live in emergency contexts, have been able to access education in the regular schools in their villages.