SHARE Uzbekistan Inclusive Education Diagnostic Study (IEDS) Summary

*This is an infographic summary, generated based on the Final Report of the SHARE Uzbekistan Inclusive Education Diagnostic Study (IEDS).* Since the 1994 World Conference on Special Needs Education, an emerging consensus suggests that transitioning from a model of exclusion and segregation to one of inclusive classrooms is the most effective way to ensure quality education for children with disabilities; (Ainscow, Slee, and Best, 2019). The International Disability Association defines inclusive education as an “education system where all learners with and without disabilities can learn together while receiving the support they need in inclusive faculties” (IDA, 2020). The government of Uzbekistan has made modest moves in this direction through various policy initiatives in the last ten years, including a 2014-2016 pilot project to train teachers in inclusive education practices and the adoption of the five-year plan, codified in Resolution No. 638 in 2021, to establish inclusive education (Abdullaev & Abbdullaeva, 2022). Over the course of several weeks in October 2022, a team of technical staff from the University of Notre Dame (UND) working as part of the USAID-funded SHARE cooperative agreement1 in collaboration with local subject matter experts in Uzbekistan, conducted a rapid systems diagnostic study to assess the status and quality of education for children with disabilities in three locations identified as priority areas by USAID Uzbekistan: Tashkent, Syrdarya, and Namangan. The diagnostic study engaged groups of parents and teachers in separate workshops to allow for candid discussion. Workshops were facilitated in local languages by local facilitators trained in systems thinking approaches by UND staff.