Are children with disabilities in school and learning? Evidence from a household survey in rural Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Invisibility of children with disabilities in data on educational access and learning is a key policy challenge for tracking progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. In this article, we report findings from a household survey undertaken in rural Punjab, Pakistan. These data enable us to identify the extent to which children with disabilities are in school and learning the basics in literacy and numeracy. We find that, perhaps contrary to expectations, many of these children in this context are in mainstream (government and private) schools, although their chances of being in school are lower than their peers. We further find that overall levels of literacy and numeracy are low, even more so for children with disabilities. Our findings corroborate recent research from other countries. The paper highlights important lessons for the policy which are of relevance to other low-income contexts.

Numeracy skills learning of children in Africa:—Are disabled children lagging behind?

“…The only exception is the study by Bakhshi, Babulal, and Trani (2018) from Sudan [ 6 ]. The other few earlier papers in the developing context are mainly from Asia, with the study of Takeda and Lamichhane (2018) from India [ 24 ], Malik et al (2020) and Singal et al (2020) from Pakistan [ 25 , 26 ]. Most studies have applied the Washington Group definition of disabilities.…”

“…Some studies simply use univariate analysis while including the disability status [ 15 , 21 ]. Some studies dichotomise the indicators (able to read or write) for school performance and use logistic or probit models [ 6 , 25 ]. Takeda and Lamichhane (2018) use an OLS model to estimate school performance as a continuous score [ 24 ].…”

“…However, the evidence on disability gaps in learning skills in the developing context is limited and primarily through simple tests embedded in surveys in individual countries. For example, studies in India [ 24 ] and Pakistan [ 25 , 26 ] suggest a significant disability gap in numeracy skills. These studies do not indicate whether the low numeracy skills among disabled children have been merely correlated with their low school attendance or have originated from their challenges in learning in school.…”

Inclusive Education Can Bring Change: The Impact of Factors Influencing Teachers' Attitudes towards Inclusive Education in Private and Public Secondary Schools of Karachi

“…For the purpose of developing and putting into practice policies that would give affect the "UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities", governments are required to gather pertinent information, including statistical and research data (UNCRPD). The SDGs also stress the importance of providing comprehensive, current, and trustworthy data that is divided into categories based on unfavourable statuses, such as handicap, and other criteria (Malik et al 2022).…”

Challenges for Education of Children With Disabilities in Pakistan

“…The Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER- Pakistan, 2017) examined extensive disparities between richer and poorer cities in rural Pakistan and, even within the richest cities, it was found that poor girls perform unsatisfactory more often than their richer counterparts (Alcott & Rose, 2015). ASER also presented emerging evidence on both access and learning for children with disabilities in the Punjab province in Pakistan (Malik et al, 2022). Many children with diverse needs are learning the fundamentals in numeracy and literacy, although their chances of learning the basics are more constrained compared with their peers in a context of overall very low levels of learning.…”