New project empowers children with disabilities to read confidently

In Nepal, most primary school students are unable to read at grade level. For Nepali children with a disabilities, the outlook is dire, since Nepali children’s capacity and adaptability to learn are rarely screened.

Starting this month, Humanity & Inclusion will tip the balance so more Nepali children can thrive at school and become strong readers. The project, Reading for All, is possible thanks to a generous USAID grant.

The transformative project comes at a perfect moment. In 2017, Humanity & Inclusion (then working under the name ‘Handicap International’) conducted a pilot screening. With funding from World Education and UNICEF, our teams met children between the ages of four and seven years old to assess them for functional limitations. The teams found 26% of children were at risk of at least some kind of hearing, sight, mobility, communication, learning or concentration limitation, with 9.4% classified as having a disability.

Better reading

“We are thrilled that USAID Nepal placed its trust in Humanity & Inclusion by funding this important reading project,” said Willy Bergogne, Country Director for the Nepal office of Humanity & Inclusion. “Together, we’ll reach thousands of Nepali children with disabilities, supporting them to achieve better reading outcomes and promoting inclusive education all over Nepal.”

The three-year project focuses on children in grades 1 – 3 in the 16 districts participating in Nepal’s early grade reading program. Working together with local and national partners, the project will improve data quality on children with disabilities.

The team will also enhance institutional and technical capacity to deliver quality reading instruction and support to children with disabilities. Currently, Nepal’s teachers are highly dependent on traditional teaching methods, with little supportive supervision and feedback from the children. The result is a significant communication gap between educator and learner. By 2021, Reading for All will have reached 6,775 head teachers in each of the targeted districts.

Finally, the team will test inclusive instructional models so they can benefit more children with disabilities. Trainers will ensure that teaching and curriculum development professionals in Nepal have the skills to improve and sustain the Reading for All tools and results.

Partnering for success

Partners at World Education, Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind, National Federation of the Deaf Nepal, and Disable Empowerment and Communication Center are helping to implement the Reading for All project.

“With strong partners in the Government of Nepal, among the USAID Nepal team, and with other local actors, this ambitious initiative is set up to help Nepali children with disabilities to succeed,” Bergogne adds.

In the project’s first year, Reading for All will reach 2,071 schools in four districts (likely Banke, Surkhet, Bhaktapur, and Kaski). Teams will train head teachers, who will then lead early detection screenings for 178,117 children through grade 3. In its second year, after fine-tuning the process, Reading for All will roll out to the remaining 12 districts, reaching about 557,828 students.

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