Towards Inclusive Education: The impact of disability on school attendance in developing countries

Using cross-nationally comparable and nationally representative data from 18 surveys in 15 countries, UNICEF aims to reduce the global knowledge gap on the impact of disability on school attendance.

The study finds that disability is a critical factor that has a big influence on school attendance, with statistical significance. Even countries which have reached close to universal primary education report high ratios of disabled to non-disabled out-of-school students, which implies that general educational policies to improve overall attendance are not designed to address the challenges faced by disabled children in attending school.