In November 2016, Handicap International and Resource Center for Rehabilitation and Development, with support from World Education Nepal and UNICEF, initiated a pilot screening program to support and inform the Government of Nepal’s efforts to identify, diagnose and treat functional impairments among children early in their development. Through the pilot, World Education seeks to expand efforts to support children with functional limitations or disabilities in meeting Early Grade Learning outcomes and to improve learning outcomes for children with functional limitations by promoting responsive instructional strategies.
The pilot screening surveyed a sample of 2,804 children enrolled in ECD-Grade 3 classes in 40 public schools across Achham, Bajura, Kalikot, and Mugu. Initial findings indicate that 26% of screened children are at risk of limited participation in society because of one or more functional limitations and that 9.4% of screened children have a 99-100% chance of being formally diagnosed with a disability. These results suggest that disability prevalence in Nepal may be higher than suggested by the Government of Nepal’s 2011 Census, which indicated that 1.94% of Nepalis have some form of disability, a statistic that falls below World Health Organization-reported international averages. The overview, linked below, shares strategies, results and recommendations from the pilot, which is one component of a broader Equity in Education program supported by UNICEF.