EDITORIAL: Inclusive education support is a timely intervention

Last Friday, Government launched a partnership with different organisations to promote inclusive education, focusing on children with disabilities. The partnership is a timely shot in the arm in view of the ongoing efforts to have more children with disabilities access inclusive education in the country. The initiative is in line with the global trend to ensure that children with disabilities are not isolated from mainstream schooling. Learners with not so severe disabilities should not be isolated and put into special schools, away from the normal children. Such measures breed stigma and discrimination. Although there are some cases of disability that require special schools, this should only be an exception and not the norm. Isolating children living with disabilities makes them believe that they are not good enough to achieve like normal children, yet studies have shown that children with disabilities have capacity to cope and even perform better than normal children under inclusive education. Over 90,000 children between the age of five and 19 are living with disabilities in the country, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda. Stakeholders at all levels should support this initiative. Parents should be sensitised that having a child with a disability is not a punishment or the end of the world for that child. The sensitisation should also focus on parents who hide their children or refuse to send them to school because of their disability. There is nothing shameful about having a disability. Like they say, disability is not inability. These children can go through the school system and become more successful than able-bodied people. However, even under inclusive education, basic facilities for learners living with disabilities should be put in place to facilitate their learning capacity. Also, more private organisations should get on board and make inclusive education a reality.

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EDITORIAL: Inclusive education support is a timely intervention