Chapter 10: Including Children with Disabilities in Tajikistan’S Education System: Global Ideas, Local Tensions

Inclusive education has become an increasingly important part of global discourses in education and international development. Inclusion in schooling for those who may face discrimination or exclusion is enshrined in international law and intention from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 24).¹ Many academics (Florian, 2007; Florian & Bericevic, 2011; Miles & Singal, 2010; Opertti & Brady, 2011; Peters, 2004) and international agencies (UNESCO, 2005; UNESCO, 2008; UNICEF, 2012;) have recognized the links between inclusive education and the aspirations of ensuring that every child has access to education. The phrase “inclusive quality education” is now part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that form the most recent consensus among world leaders about the direction our future as a planet should take. Inclusive education has featured in the aid packages of nearly every bilateral and multilateral donor working in the education sector, and it is likely to figure prominently in the aid packages structured around the SDGs.