Education and Disability

Abstract

The notion of equity is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 4 on education. Analysis of disparities linked to disability has long been a challenge due to a scarcity of reliable and comparable data. To address this problem, the Washington Group on Disability Statistics has developed questions for household surveys that allow the collection and analysis of internationally comparable data on persons with disabilities. This fact sheet presents attendance rates and completion rates disaggregated by disability status based on data from Demographic and Health Surveys that applied the questions recommended by the Washington Group. The findings of the analysis by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) confirm that persons with disabilities are more likely to be out of school or to leave school before completing primary or secondary education. The fact sheet also summarises plans by the UIS for future data analysis and ctivities in standard setting to strengthen the evidence base for monitoring of SDG 4 and the design of education policy.