AKIPRESS.COM - Countries and organizations came together on the sidelines of the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin on June 18 to launch the first-ever Global Leadership Coalition for Inclusion. Mongolia became one of the 14 founding states.

Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Zulphar Sarkhad represented Mongolia at a meeting to establish the Coalition led by Tim Shriver, head of Special Olympics.

The goal of the Coalition is to provide affordable education to 2 million youth with and without intellectual disabilities in 150,000 unified schools around the world and accelerate education reform.

According to the Special Olympics, students with intellectual disabilities are 43% more likely to be out of school, 49% more likely to have never attended schools, 43% less likely to have foundational reading and numeracy skills, and 2–3 times more likely to be bullied.

The Special Olympics has expanded its inclusive education program, which has been successfully implemented in 30,000 schools in 148 countries, to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.