The following statement was made available to participants at ISEC at the closing ceremony. It was not discussed or debated and does not necessarily reflect the views of all those who attended the Congress.
Over 1000 delegates from 98 countries attended the 5th International Special Education Congress which has taken place at the University of Manchester from July 24-28 2000. Our congress was attended by teachers, health workers, researchers, government officials, international and voluntary agencies, parents and family members and by many disabled people from all over the world.
It became clear that some of the poorest countries in the world are at the cutting edge of innovation in reaching out to all children and in opening their schools to all children. Although many governments now express a commitment to making their schools more inclusive, implementation of policy is slowed up not only by lack of resources but by under-estimation of what can be achieved.
We learned at Manchester that real progress can be made in reaching out to all children. Much more can be done if we share information, knowledge and skills with one another and work together to build a more inclusive society.
Within the congress theme of Including the Excluded, participants have learned about progress and problems in meeting the United Nations goal of Education for All and in ensuring that children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities had access to inclusive schools which met their needs.
Our meeting took place ten years after the world's leaders committed themselves to Education for All by 2000 at Jomtien, Thailand. In April 2000, heads of state and ministers met again at Dhakar in Senegal to review progress in reaching the targets set at Jomtiem. The overall result was bitterly disappointing, although a small number of the poorest countries in the world have made striking progress. The target date for Education for All was postponed to 2015. A few weeks ago, targets set at the World Social Summit in Copenhagen five years ago for the alleviation of poverty were reviewed in Geneva, again with deeply disappointing results.
Our congress took place in the same week as a summit of the leaders of the world's seven richest countries met in Japan to review progress in implementing their decision to reduce the crippling burden of debt repayment for countries agreeing to invest the money saved in education and health. Once again, there was little progress to report.
We join forces with all those who are calling on all governments to make a new public commitment to ensure that all children without exception can exercise their right to attend neighbourhood schools.
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