Inclusive education Ethiopia Students with disabilities Educational rights Meaningful participation Disability Barriers to education Teacher training Accessibility Special educational needs

This student research manuscript examines inclusive education in Ethiopia, with a focus on barriers affecting the educational rights and meaningful participation of students with disabilities. The study explores the extent to which students with disabilities can participate academically and socially in school, the barriers they may encounter, how teachers and schools respond to individual educational needs, and the relationship between Ethiopia’s legal and policy commitments and their implementation in practice. The research uses a qualitative literature and document review, drawing on secondary sources concerning inclusive education, disability, educational rights, and the Ethiopian school context. The findings identify barriers including limited resources, transportation challenges, shortages of trained personnel, communication difficulties, limited educational materials, accessibility challenges, and social and psychosocial factors. The study emphasizes that physical enrollment or presence in school does not necessarily guarantee meaningful participation. The manuscript concludes by discussing measures that could strengthen inclusive education, including teacher development, adequate educational resources, trained support personnel, improved accessibility and communication support, greater opportunities for social participation and belonging, stronger implementation and monitoring, and further ethical research. This is a small-scale student research project and should not be interpreted as a nationally representative study of all students with disabilities or all schools in Ethiopia.