Myanmar Education in Emergencies Inclusive Education Consultancy

Lidra Remacka, Sustainability Frontiers Member, Canada, is presently conducting a field consultancy on disability amongst internally-displaced Muslim children living in camps or camp-like conditions in Rakhine State, following inter-community violence in Myanmar since 2012.  The consultancy is being undertaken on behalf of  Save the Children Myanmar, and involves both participatory research and training. The research focusses on the prevalence of disability and the composition of the disabled child population in the Rakhine displaced community; also, on the barriers children with disabilities face in terms of participation and learning and on ways such barriers can be minimized. It further looks at provision for children of disability in the Myanmar state education system and ways of bridging the gap between Education in Emergency provision for the disabled and what the regular system provides. Findings of the research will be captured in a final report that will make practical programmatic recommendations for service providers for advancing and better resourcing inclusive education, paying particular attention to cultural prejudices inhibiting the participation of children with disabilities in community activities. The consultancy will conclude with the development and (end-May) facilitation of an inclusive education training program for implementers, a program that will feed into an improved inclusive education teacher education package.