News Learning without barriers

Maisha is fortunate to be able to get the best of both schools. She plays and learns together with children with and without learning difficulties or disabilities.

Inclusive education requires a flexible education system that adapts to the child, not the other way around. In the Netherlands, for many years now, the central idea has been that as many children as possible should attend mainstream education, with extra support where necessary. Bangladesh also has laws and policies that recognize children with disabilities’ right to education. However, in both countries, there is a gap between policy and practice. The Netherlands struggles with organization and financing, Bangladesh mainly with resources and political stability. In both cases, well-trained teachers, collaboration between schools, and parental involvement are key to giving children the right opportunities.

In April 2025, the Global Disability Summit marked a powerful global step towards the inclusion of people with disabilities. For the first time, governments and development partners agreed that at least 15% of national development programs should explicitly target this group, which accounts for 15% of the world’s population. However, neither the Netherlands nor Bangladesh attended this summit.

The lack of action from both the Netherlands and Bangladesh is alarming and undermines the international promise to ‘leave no one behind’.

Niketan supports 40 elementary schools in Bangladesh in developing inclusive education. With the ‘Disability inclusive teaching’ module developed by Niketan, we offer school boards and teachers in Bangladesh practical training that expands their knowledge and skills, enabling them to support pupils with different support needs. In doing so, we encourage collaboration between special education and mainstream education. The ‘Disability inclusive teaching’ module is part of our Stories for Inclusion project.