Editor,

Children born with disabilities should be given extra care when at their schools. This ia a hard request to make however, it is necessary.

I have a friend who was born speech impaired  and only began to talk when he was six. Presumably he would have benefited from early stimulation and a pre-school curriculum that supported him.

However he went to a local school, where the teaching was probably very formal, and he stayed in the same grade for three years because he was unable to pass the exams.

Despite the unhelpfulness of the education system, he has successfully learnt some of the key life skills associated with daily living – presumably from his mother.

I believe the lack of expertise and training of mainstream teachers in responding to the needs of children with disabilities and the lack of specialist facilities in schools are the two main barriers to the inclusion of disabled children in Rwanda’s education system.

This implies that parents with disabled children are left with the difficult choice of investing in private home schooling, yet this is unaffordable for most Rwandans.

We need to have at least the faith in the potential of education to transform lives and include the rights of disabled children to access education.

Miriam Mukamugema
Teacher in Kigali