Convention of Rights 25: The Right to education

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) forms the foundation of disability rights laws in Uganda and is the model for the Persons With Disabilities Act (PWDA) 2006. The CRPD underlines and recognizes that persons with disabilities (PWDs) are entitled to all the human rights enunciated in the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If you are a PWD the rights in the CRPD are your rights, if you do not have a disability it is your duty to uphold and promote these rights.

Article 24 of the CRPD says:

1, PWDs have the right to education in an inclusive system that allows lifelong learning directed to:

a, the full development of human potential, dignity and self-worth, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and diversity.
b, the development of personality, talents and creativity, as well as mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.
c, enabling effective participation in a free society.

2, The following should be ensured:

a, PWDs should not be excluded from any education on the basis of disability.
b, PWDs should be able to access an inclusive primary and secondary education in their community.
c, reasonable changes should be made to accommodate PWDs.
d, PWDs receive the support required to facilitate their education.
e, effective individualized support is given to maximize academic and social development.

3, PWDs should learn life and social skills to facilitate equal participation in education and the community. Through:

a, learning braille and other means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, providing peer support and mentoring.
b, learning sign language and promoting linguistic identity of the deaf.
c, ensuring the education of the the blind, deaf and deafblind in the most appropriate languages and means of communication to maximize academic and social development.

4, Appropriately trained teachers including teachers with disabilities should be employed at all levels of education. The training should include disability awareness and appropriate communication skills, education techniques and materials to support PWDs.

5, PWDs should have access to tertiary education, vocational training and lifelong learning without discrimination on an equal basis. To ensure this, reasonable alterations should be provided for PWDs.

Many children with disabilities (CWDs) in developing countries do not attend school. Uganda is no exception, despite universal primary education (UPE), almost 4 out of every 5 CWDs fail to start school (see Educating Children With Disabilities). The right to education is of fundamental importance to CWDs, it is the basis of a their future. Through education a child is able to exercise their rights, education has a direct impact on all other rights. 

The concept of inclusive education is new to international law and relies on reasonable accommodations being made for the PWD. Making the classroom accessible is of fundamental importance to achieving inclusive education. The book Human Rights: Yes! makes the following points about access:

Reasonable accommodation in the context of education requires discussions between the educational provider, the student with a disability, and depending on the student’s age, parents and/or family members in order to ensure that the accommodation meets the access needs of the student and can be implemented by the provider. If a student with a disability is seven years old, then it is important for parents or family members to be involved in these discussions. However, if a student with a disability is a 20-year-old university student, he or she should be able to advocate directly to the university for appropriate accommodations.

In Uganda, by law (PWDA) says that 10% of the total education budget should be spent on educating CWDs. In reality the 2015-16 special needs budget was a paltry 0.12% of the total education budget. This 2014 newspaper article Of all the world's children deprived of education, two-fifths are disabled sums up the situation in Uganda:

Of the total education budget – itself only 14% of the government's annual spending – one-tenth is supposed to be for special needs education, but even that sum, campaigners say, doesn't materialise in full. In the field of visual impairment, there is a dismal lack of equipment such as braille machines, and of teachers trained to deal with pupils' needs. Special needs teachers are badly paid and looked down on, says Sightsavers' Uganda programme officer, Juliet Sentongo. Too often no effort is made to help children who cannot see what is being written on a board, and with class sizes sometimes topping 100, it's hard for teachers to identify children needing extra attention.

CWDs have a right to a free education. All PWDs have a right to an education.

Inclusive education: The missing link.
Despite all the commendable efforts to make education accessible to all children, those with disabilities continue to face challenges. Poor planning and lack of funds are at the heart of this ongoing situation. It will take more than just government action or non-governmental organization involvement to solve this problem, which has now made our hopes for education for all even more distant.

This is written in Article 24 of the CRPD in the following way:

Article 24

Education

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to:

(a) The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;

(b) The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential;

(c) Enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society.

2. In realizing this right, States Parties shall ensure that:

(a) Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;

(b) Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;

(c) Reasonable accommodation of the individual’s requirements is provided;

(d) Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;

(e) Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.

3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:

(a) Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;

(b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

(c) Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education. Such training shall incorporate disability awareness and the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.