When Alice Mugwaneza started primary education at the age of seven, she was overwhelmed with joy and was optimistic about the future.

But her excitement was short-lived as her teachers said they could not help her owing to her hearing loss and muteness.

Mugwaneza was, therefore, compelled to sit at home for some years since there was no other school in her area that could admit her.

But she never lost hope and continued to look around for an alternative school.

A few months later, Mugwaneza got an opportunity to join Wisdom Nursery and Primary School and is now sitting her Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) that started on Tuesday.

A total of 165,284 candidates are sitting for this year’s Primary Leaving Examinations from various examination centres across the country.

Candidates started with Social Studies and Mathematics. Yesterday, they sat for Science and Elementary Technology and the exams are expected to end today with English.

Life at school

At Gashangiro II in Musanze District, Mugwaneza sits calmly in the examination hall and smiles as she puts the last full stop on her Mathematics script.

Much as she can’t speak to me, she writes on my note book to share her impression about the exams.

"The exam was simple. I am now preparing for the next paper,” Mugwaneza says before her interpreter, Jacqueline Mukandayisenga, joins us.

Mugwaneza, the last born in a family of three, explains that her hearing and speech limitations do not hinder her concentration in class.

She says she mainly focuses on the blackboard, the teacher’s lips and signs used to explain a concept. And she has never repeated any class.

Her dreams

"My parents want me to do tailoring but my dream is to become an accountant,” Mugwaneza says.

She appeals to the community not to discriminate against people with disabilities but rather to accord them all support so they can access education and health care.

"If I succeed, I will help as many deaf people or people with disabilities as possible so that they can be independent,” Mugwaneza says.

Unlike her disabled friends who are stigmatised in other schools, Mugwaneza says her school is different as she socialises with other students freely.

Mother’s take

Mugwaneza’s parents say she is courageous and well behaved.

"She first studied in Kigali but we transfered her to a school in Kisoro District, Uganda after failing to find a place in the boarding section,” says Beatha Nyiramutuzo, her mother.

"Although she had passed Primary Seven exams in Uganda, maintaining her there became expensive. She came back to Rwanda and was asked to go back to Primary Four at Wisdom Nursery and Primary School two years ago so she can better adjust to the new environment,” Nyiramutuzo adds.

What teachers say

Mukandayisenga says despite Mugwaneza hearing and speech limitations, she beats most of her ‘normal’ classmates.

Elie Nduwayesu, the founder of Wisdom Nursery and Primary school, says deaf learners study alone for four years while acquiring technical and vocational skills before they join ‘normal’ students.

He, however, says they still face some kind of discrimination in school and the community as a whole.