Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
43
Disabled children are at a disadvantage in access to education. In Sudan, results of Sudan
Household Health Survey 2010 suggests that 49 percent of children aged 6-9 with a disability are
out of school as opposed to 37.1 percent of children aged 6-9 without a disability.129 In Chad, 36
percent of children aged 6-11 and without a disability are attending school while this rate is 24
percent for children with disability.130 The difference is particularly high for Indonesia, where 89
percent of children aged 6-11 without a disability attending school as opposed to only 29 percent
of children with disability.131 It must be noted again that the definitions of disability might be
different in between countries.
Access rates might also change depending on the type of disability. In UNESCO (2014) it is
reported for instance for Iraq that while only 10 percent of children aged 6-9 who are not disabled
had never been to school, this rate rises to 19 percent for children with hearing problems and to
51 percent for children with mental disability problems.
Language and minority children
OIC countries have a rich linguistic diversity. In Africa and Asia, the regions where OIC
countries are located, it is estimated that 2,144 and 2,294 living languages are spoken in each
region respectively.132 Member countries like Cameroon, Benin and Chad are among the countries
in theWorldwith the richest linguistic diversity. In Cameroon alone there are 280 living languages
spoken.133
Yet like the rest of the World, the language of instruction in OIC countries does not include
all languages being spoken in the countries and in fact it is mostly conducted in one
language. However not speaking the dominant language of the country could pose a problem for
children in access to education and in learning when they have access.
Children are at a disadvantage in access to education based on the language they speak.
The most up to date information on access to school for children speaking different languages that
could be found is in Smits, Huisman, and Kruijff (2008) which analyses DHS datasets conducted
in the late 1990s or early 2000s for 23 countries (both OIC and non-OIC). Although this analysis
does not present the current situation, it provides a snapshot of disadvantages faced by children
speaking languages different from the medium of instruction. For instance in Benin (DHS 2001),
24.3 percent of native French speaking children aged 7-11 do not attend school as opposed to 72.6
percent of Ditammari speaking children. In Cameroon (DHS 2004), the non-attendance rate is low
among natively French or English speaking children aged 7-11 with 3.1 and 2.8 percent
respectively while among Fulfulde speaking children the non-attendance rate rises to 43.7
percent. In Nigeria (DHS 2003), the non-attendance rate is only 2.4 percent among natively
English speaking children rising to 52.9 for children speaking Hausa. A further analysis controlling
129 UNICEF (2014)
130 Filmer (2008)
131 Filmer (2008)
132 Simons and Fennig (2017)
133 Simons and Fennig (2017)