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Decentralized Democracy

Danny Glenwright

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
November 28, 2023
Context: Committee Evidence - SDIR-40 (SDIR) - Nov/28/23
Mr. Danny Glenwright (President and Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children Canada)
  • 11:26:33 a.m.
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Good morning. Thank you, Chair. Thank you to the subcommittee for inviting us to speak with you today. As you noted earlier, my colleague Sarah Moorcroft, our senior education adviser, is joining me. Save the Children works to address the rights of children in more than 120 countries. My comments today will be through the lens of our global experience on disability-inclusive education. Particularly, they are on the global crisis for children with disabilities and their right to quality education in low- and middle-income countries, and what we need to do to respond. I will speak to three urgent issues. The first is an ongoing deprioritization and depletion of inclusive education funding. The second is an increase in conflict and climate crises. Last are the discriminatory attitudes towards people with disabilities. Two hundred and forty million children—that's one in every 10—live with disabilities. The link between poverty and disability is inextricable. We know that 80% of people with disabilities live in low- and middle-income countries. According to the World Bank, 20% of the world's poorest people have some kind of disability. With more conflicts globally such as in Gaza, Ukraine and Yemen, we're seeing increases in disability due to blast injuries from explosive weapons. Even after a conflict ends, children are 50% more likely to suffer blast injuries that cause disabilities, because they pick up unexploded devices while playing. Trauma from conflict and a constant fear of conflict also severely affect injured children's development, learning and future potential. As my colleagues have shared today, almost half of all children with disabilities have never attended school. This number is higher in many countries such as Ethiopia, where more than 90% of Ethiopian children with disabilities are out of school today. Why is this? It's partly because many of our education systems are on the brink of collapse due to significant decreases in global education funding. Additionally, as I mentioned, we're seeing a rise of climate and conflict crises, which frequently close schools and disrupt learning. Earlier this year, UNESCO found that there's a $97-billion U.S. annual funding education gap for education financing. Many countries are far off the target for sustainable development goal number 4, with its target to ensure inclusive and equitable education for all. As well, the aftermath of COVID-19 has led to significant cuts in public funding for education. Contributions from donor countries like Canada have declined. Without proper resources, education systems are overcrowded and under-resourced. Children with disabilities are the first to suffer. Without proper resourcing, there are no effective systems to screen for children with disabilities. There's no support to families to provide rehabilitation and assistive learning devices, or to ensure strengthened and accessible school grounds, latrines and classrooms that support children's learning as well as their emotional, psychosocial and physical needs. Look again at the case of Ethiopia and the conflict in northern Ethiopia. We know the education system in Tigray was not operational in 2021, which made it impossible for 1.3 million students to even go to school. When the conflict spread to the Afar and Amhara regions, more than 4,300 schools were either damaged or destroyed. That meant that an additional 1.9 million children were unable to continue their education in those two regions. A crisis is not neutral. Education for children with disabilities is deprioritized or forgotten during a crisis. Already out of school, these youth are invisible in education, emergency and recovery plans. They're seen as a curse, misfortune, and cause of shame for their families and their communities. Teachers see them as a nuisance. Ministries see them as too expensive, with little return. We know, of course, that none of this is true, but these discriminatory attitudes silence children with disabilities and impede their rights. This situation is unacceptable. As Canadians, we have the power and means to act, and we must. We must prioritize investment in global education with and for the most marginalized children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and in fragile places, some of which you've already heard about today. Education is life-saving. It's the pathway to peace and security for all of us. Canada has long been a leader in global education. Now we need to revitalize our strategy for resilient, inclusive education to ensure that no child is left behind. Today, we'd like to recommend that Canada renew and scale its global education funding so that we continue to focus on inclusive education agenda for the most marginalized, one that is grounded in an intersectional approach, and so that we target emergency areas most impacted by climate and crisis. I'll leave you with final words from Maysoon, a 15-year-old girl from Sudan who uses sign language. She has sadly witnessed countless verbal and physical abuse towards deaf children in her 15 years. She says, “Children should know their rights and how to advocate for them. You must provide children with education and the means to protect themselves from violence and harassment, especially those with disabilities.” Thank you.
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Context: Committee Evidence - SDIR-40 (SDIR) - Nov/28/23
Mr. Danny Glenwright
  • 12:09:28 p.m.
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Sir, thank you very much for the question. One of the reasons we chose to focus on fragile places today, especially those affected by conflict and other crises, is that, as some of my colleagues have shared, this is where children with disabilities are forgotten first. This is where they suffer the most, and this is where we are most worried. The example of Gaza is a good one, because we've all been watching this unfold over the last several weeks. We know that the destruction that's been caused there is going to take months and years to rebuild. In the education system alone, we've seen that more than 300 schools have been damaged or destroyed, and that's more than half of all schools in Gaza. We know that more than 10,000 children have suffered injuries, and many of those injuries will be life-changing injuries. They will result in disabilities that children will be grappling with for the rest of their lives. That is not to mention the infrastructure that's been damaged. Those who have mobility issues will struggle to get to school, because many roads have been damaged over the past several weeks. This is why we highlight the importance of addressing this, especially in places of conflict, because conflict is increasing. This example in Gaza is the most recent conflict that we've all been seeing. Save the Children has been working in Gaza since 1953, in many cases in education. Part of why I mention this as well is that in many of these places where we've seen vast strides around education and inclusive education, conflict will set that back. It will make it a challenge for us to meet the sustainable development goal around education. I haven't even mentioned the psychological and mental health effects of what has unfolded in Gaza, which will affect so many children there. Before this latest escalation of hostilities, we know that three-quarters of the children in the region were struggling. They were struggling to focus in school and they were reporting anxiety. Also, mutism was on the rise, where children lost the ability to speak. The impacts of conflict on children's education are immense. I think it's a critical area for us to be paying attention to. We're certainly relieved to see the pause in fighting in Gaza, and we hope that it holds. Thank you.
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