Equity and Inclusion in Education in World Bank Projects : Persons with Disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, and Sexual and Gender Minorities

At the heart of the World Bank Group education strategy 2020: learning for all is the recognition that a holistic, multidimensional approach is essential to achieve education for all. Student-centered learning is a precondition for achieving inclusion and equity for all students, especially those who are disadvantaged in society. This paper focuses on three groups who experience deeply entrenched disadvantages, inequity, exclusion, and discrimination in education: persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and sexual and gender minorities. Inclusion and equity in education at all levels recognize the responsibility of the school system and individual teachers and school leaders to create a learning environment that facilitates all students. Inclusion and equity also require an enabling law and policy environment that support inclusion and nondiscrimination in education and in all spheres of life. Making education inclusive and equitable requires recognizing: (a) that many different groups experience exclusion, and (b) that some individuals’ exclusion is compounded by their belonging to more than one disadvantaged group.