Contribution to international development: report 2021 to 2023

3. Inclusive Education

Education is critical for achieving meaningful and sustained socio-economic change. In line with SDG 4, our education programming aims to contribute to international development by supporting initiatives that reduce barriers to education attainment and help efforts by partner countries to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

“We have always believed that education is the best investment a country can make. Scotland's history as a global leader in Education and Economics is well known. Zambia's partnership with Scotland goes back many years and we welcome the opportunity to refresh and renew this historic friendship." - Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia on Scottish Government support for the University of Zambia

3.1 ODA Spend Projects

During 2021-23, we continued to fund a number of projects focused on SDG 4, including:

• Scotland Pakistan Scholarships for Women and Girls delivered by the British Council since 2013. The programme provides financial support to young women and girls in Pakistan living in challenging circumstances so they can attend and complete their education (Please see our 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 Reports for a case study on this project);
• In this reporting period:
  • Over 4,600 girls received secondary school scholarships including 1600 specifically targeting girls from religious minorities and learners with disabilities.
  • Over 300 young women and girls were awarded master’s scholarships including more than 120 scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects.
  • Over 450 young women and girls were awarded bachelor’s scholarships including more than 230 scholarships in the fields of agriculture and food security, sustainable energy as well as health.
  • Additional funding provided to assist students affected by flooding in Pakistan benefitted 284 university students and over 1000 secondary school students from flood-affected areas.
  • 160 laptops were provided to students during the COVID pandemic to assist university students as university education had shifted to online learning;

Projects explored in more detail for the period of this Report through our Case Studies below.

3.2 Case Studies

Case Study E1: Promoting Equal Access to Education in Malawi - Sense Scotland

This community project working across Chitipa, Karonga and Nkhata Bay addressed ingrained and inherited negative attitudes towards disability and promoting equal access to education for all children, regardless of additional needs.

It was child-focused and rights-based, working through existing community engagement systems, family support, teachers, school management and district and local government.

The project worked directly towards supporting SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

Achievements of the project during 2021-23

• We supported more than 2700 learners in Malawi with additional needs, more than 1600 community leaders to support the learners to attend school, and more than 800 teachers to support special needs learners to participate in education.
• We supported 214 school Open Days, reaching over 115,700 learners with drama, poetry, dancing and musical performances promoting inclusive education.
• More than 650 children with additional needs were identified and supported to attend mainstream schools

Lameck’s Story

Lameck contracted meningitis as a young child which affected his ability to walk unaided. This grew worse and he struggled at school and home due to problems of access to school and a lack of understanding about his right to an education.

His father attended one of Sense Scotland’s training sessions on how to best support disabled learners. He also joined the parent support group, which offers support and income generating activities. With better tools to support his son, he is better able to support his education.

Lameck told us “I am thankful to my father who is always supporting me, we are in a family of seven children but he treats us equally and encourages me to attend school.”

Teachers and community leaders in his village also attended training sessions and together, supported Lameck to thrive at school. The teachers ensured that all the learners understood inclusive education and Lameck now has two good friends, Leah and Esau, who support him, pushing his wheelchair around school and escorting him home.

Leah told us “inclusive education is good because it teaches us to stay together in class with friends, we live in harmony…and encourage each other.”

The deputy head teacher told us, “As teachers and community leaders, after lessons from our trainings and upon noting we have a learner who uses a wheelchair we organised ourselves and to build the ramps around our school. We bought two bags of cement which costed about £14 and paid £5 for labour. The community members supplied bricks, sand and cooked food for the builder.”

For Lameck this inclusive approach is working. Having repeated one class year due to missing school and poor grades, he has now passed his exams for the last two years and his class teachers report that his performance has improved greatly.

Case study E2: Women in Zambia Scholarship – Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University

Since 2019, Edinburgh Business School (EBS) at Heriot-Watt University has partnered with the Scottish Government to deliver management education in Zambia through the Heriot-Watt Scholarship for Women in Zambia. This initiative aims to address gender inequality by offering a small number of fully funded places on the online MBA programme from EBS, providing life-changing opportunities for Zambian women who are passionate about business.

The scholarship programme addresses gender inequality and underrepresentation by tackling key barriers hindering women’s access to education, principally financial barriers. It covers the full cost of the online MBA programme, including assessment and graduation fees. Participants can schedule their learning around their work and life commitments and course materials can be downloaded for 24/7 offline access, accommodating students who are traveling or are in areas with intermittent internet access.

The initial scholarship offering in 2019/20 was increased from 10 to 20 scholarships due to the significant interest in the programme. 15 of the inaugural scholarship beneficiaries have already graduated and are already making an impact in their communities.

Regina Mtonga, one such graduate, is a staunch advocate for gender equality, and as the co-founder of Asikana Network in Zambia has been instrumental in narrowing the gender gap in the tech industry by providing training for women. "I wanted to use technology to create a community of confident and capable women and to help more women find employment, so my co-founders and I set up the Asikana Network to train Zambian women in technology and increase their capability in the tech space. Working with international companies like Meta (formerly Facebook), we have now trained more than 30,000 women since 2013.”

Precious Milande, another MBA graduate and scholarship recipient, wishes to use the skills she acquired during her studies to empower other women: “My plan is to mentor as many women and girls as possible in terms of financial literacy and how they can make an income and a living out of whatever they do.”

Mainga Kabika, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Gender Division, in Zambia has commented on the initiative, saying: “We believe that education is the best equaliser and the strongest force for empowering women. This scholarship provides additional opportunities for Zambian women to access world class tertiary education, through our partnership with Scotland.”

Due to the scholarship programme’s success, an additional 30 scholarships have been made available in 2024, with over 1,200 applications received.

3.3. Inclusive Education Policy Initiatives Post-2021 Review

Over this period Scottish Government also developed our new approach to inclusive education. In line with our International Development Principles, we consulted with our partner country governments and a wide range of international development stakeholders.

To deliver on our commitments to increase and improve our future support to our partner countries, we commissioned evidence (published in February 2024) to inform the development of new inclusive education programming from 2024. This new phase of inclusive education work will focus on supporting our partner countries to accelerate progress on making education systems more inclusive, and to support the removal of barriers for women and girls to access to higher education. Further information about our new Inclusive Education programme can be found at 11.3.

3.4 Cross-Scottish-Government Policy Initiatives

In line with our commitments on policy coherence for our inclusive education work, to ‘do no harm’, and to good global citizenship, wider Scottish Government policy initiatives developed and adopted during this period that contribute to international development include:

Scotland’s Development Education Centres (DECs), jointly core funded by the Scottish Government Education and International Development ministerial portfolios, support Scotland’s educators at all levels in incorporating global citizenship in the classroom, across whole schools or learning communities. Development Education Centres - IDEAS are in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness and cover all Scottish Local Authorities from these regional bases. DECs offer high quality Career Long Professional Learning opportunities and innovative learning and teaching projects.