A/HRC/4/29 page 6 of the number of children with disabilities attending school in developing countries range from less than 1 per cent to 5 per cent.3 Second, literacy rates for disabled women are 1 per cent, as compared to an estimate of about 3 per cent for people with disabilities as a whole.4 9. In response to this exclusion, a strengthening partnership of the “human rights” and “disability” movements has promoted the educative paradigm now generally known, and referred to above, as inclusive education. Inclusive education is based on the principle that all children should learn together, wherever possible, regardless of difference.5 Inclusive education acknowledges that every child has unique characteristics, interests, abilities and learning needs and that those learners with special education needs must have access to and be accommodated in the general education system through a child-centred pedagogy. Inclusive education, by taking into account the diversity among learners, seeks to combat discriminatory attitudes, create welcoming communities, achieve education for all as well as improve the quality and effectiveness of education of mainstream learners.6 In this way, educational systems should no longer view persons with disabilities as problems to be fixed; instead, they should respond positively to pupil diversity and approach individual differences as opportunities to enrich learning for all.7 10. The concept of inclusive education involves two closely related processes: on the one hand, it questions traditional (patriarchal, utilitarian and segregational) education and, on the other, it refers to a specific mechanism that seeks to provide appropriate and relevant education for persons with disabilities and other groups subjected to discrimination, which is why it aspires to become a systemic and systematic model. Having established this, it is clear that, as inclusive education pursues its unstoppable course, school loses the sterile, catalytic meaning that has been ascribed to it for centuries and is now being called upon to change radically. 11. In direct contrast with this there is the “special education” paradigm. Policies following this paradigm promote segregated education that leads to the development of separate educational systems: one for persons with disabilities, often referred to as “special schools”; and 3 Peters, Susan J., Inclusive Education: An EFA Strategy for All Children, World Bank, November 2004 (available at http://www.worldbank.org). See also UNESCO, Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring access to education for all, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, France, 2005, p. 11. 4 Groce, quoted by Rousso, Harilyn. Education for All: A gender and disability perspective. Disabilities Unlimited, 2005, p. 2. 5 Salamanca Statement on Principles, Policy and Practice in Special Needs Education, para. 3. 6 Ibid., para. 2. 7 UNESCO, Guidelines for Inclusion: Ensuring access to education for all, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, France, 2005, p. 9.