Stelyne lives with her mother and 4 siblings in Vanuatu. She is 17 and should be in grade 10, but when she was in grade 6, she injured her spinal cord and is unable to walk.

She stopped going to school because there was no wheelchair-accessible transportation. She studied from home on her own using learning materials from when she was in school.

Thanks to Vanuatu’s commitment to make education more inclusive, Stelyne made her way back into the education system. Currently, she is enrolled in grade 9 at her local school and receives support from an inclusive education teacher.

Critical to Stelyne’s return to school was the support and encouragement she received from her mother to continue learning.

In Vanuatu, many children with disabilities do not attend school. Causes for their exclusion include community stigma around disability, lack of screening for disability, lack of inclusive pedagogy, limited skills and knowledge of teachers, poverty and lack of specialist support services.

Vanuatu’s Ministry of Education and Training, in partnership with GPE and Save the Children, is changing the narrative. A campaign encouraging Vanuatu parents to enroll their children with disabilities in school stresses the right of every child to access education.

A campaign video featuring Stelyne and others aims to assure parents that schools in Vanuatu are inclusive and equipped to support children with special learning needs.

In addition to the campaign, Vanuatu has trained teachers and school leaders to screen students for disabilities, create individual education plans for children needing more support in the classroom, and refer students living with disabilities for specialist services and assistive devices.

Around 4,600 children with disabilities are benefiting from inclusive education services.