Impact of Community-Based Rehabilitation on School Enrollment and Retention of Children with Disabilities

Abstract

Children with disabilities remain among the most educationally excluded groups in low- and middle-income countries, with global estimates suggesting they are several times less likely to attend school than their peers without disabilities. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR), endorsed by the World Health Organization as a strategy for disability-inclusive development, positions education as one of five core components alongside health, livelihood, social, and empowerment domains. This paper reviews evidence on the relationship between CBR and two specific educational outcomes: initial school enrollment and sustained retention. Drawing on systematic reviews, household surveys, and programme evaluations from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Malaysia, the paper finds that CBR interventions are associated with improved family awareness, referral into mainstream or special schools, and, in some settings, measurable gains in educational attainment among programme participants relative to non-participants. Retention gains appear less consistent than enrollment gains and depend heavily on complementary school-level accommodations. The paper concludes that CBR functions best as one component of a twin-track approach that combines community-level support with system-level inclusive education reform, rather than as a stand-alone solution.