1. As part of the Global Action on Education for All, UNESCO has announced Global Action Week 2008 which focuses on quality education to end exclusion.

Efforts to expand enrolment must be accompanied by policies to enhance educational quality at all levels, in formal and non-formal settings. Education is a fundamental right for all children, youth and adults, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, language, religion, opinion, disability, or social and economic status.

Read the following guidelines:

Every Learner Counts: 10 Questions on inclusive quality Education

2. During the Global Forum for Education for All, UNESCO published a number of thematic studies to lift certain critical areas that need attention.

Education For All and Children who are Excluded - Thematic Study for the Dakar Conference in 2000

3. The 13th IASSID World Congress was held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 25th – 30th August 2008.

The conference was attended by almost 900 delegates from all over the world. This was the first IASSID Conference to be held on the African continent and was marked by a wide range of papers delivered by leading researchers in the field of intellectual disability. The main keynote addresses can be viewed on this learning space:

• Diane Richler, President of Inclusion International: Hear our Voices, What people with intellectual disability and their families feel, 25 August 2008.
• Colleen Adnams: Poverty and Intellectual Disabilities: A view from Africa, 25 August 2008.
• Nithi Muthukrishna and Viane Timmons: Inclusive Education: A Global Perspective

Other Papers:

 

Marie Schoeman: Assessment of Learners' Needs: The Key Challenge in Inclusive Education