A new study on Impact of COVID-19 on Inclusive Education in Georgia

COVID-19 has spread rapidly within and between countries across the globe. Governments worldwide have implemented measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, including school closures, home isolation/quarantine and community lockdown, all of which have had secondary impacts on children and their households. Save the Children Georgia Country Office with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia launched a study to generate  evidence on how the COVID-19 pandemic and measures implemented to mitigate it have impacted  the inclusive education system in Georgia. 

Considering the varied needs of inclusive education and students, the realization of distance inclusive learning in the conditions of isolation and limited resources requires significant efforts both from the state and also from each family. For the process to be correctly planned, introduced, and developed, it is necessary to study and analyse all the difficulties of introducing/implementing distance inclusive education and the varied needs of students with special educational needs and their families. Analysing the results of the needs study provides an opportunity to plan intervention strategies appropriately and rationally distribute the limited financial and human resources available in the country.

The study of distance inclusive education’s challenges and the ways to overcome them involved 1406 parents of students with special educational needs and 718 teachers/school administrators.