Noticias

Inclusive education does not begin when a child with a disability enters the classroom. It begins earlier: when families receive guidance, when an early childhood centre identifies a need at an early stage, and when a school is ready to respond to diversity without separating or excluding children.

Between 2022 and 2026, Tukuy Pacha and Save the Children developed an initiative in Cochabamba that brought together early childhood centres, schools, families, teachers, early childhood educators and municipal stakeholders. The work combined early identification, support for children, capacity strengthening, accessible materials, individualised support and coordination with specialist services.

In classrooms, Diseño Plural para los Aprendizajes (DPA), a plural approach to designing learning incorporated into Bolivian education regulations, helped shift practice from “adapting afterwards” towards planning that takes different ways of learning and participating into account from the outset. The documentation records changes in teaching practices, greater flexibility in planning, the use of multisensory resources, visual and communication support, and different ways for children to respond to an activity. As one teacher put it, these practices helped children “feel part of the school”.

Families also experienced change, moving from fear or overprotection towards greater confidence in their children’s abilities and in advocating for their right to education.

The experience offers a central lesson: inclusion does not depend on a single teacher, a family or specialist support alone. It requires shared responsibility across education, health, protection, municipal authorities and communities. Strengthening these capacities and connections is what makes more inclusive and sustainable educational pathways possible.