Today, the General Secretary of Protestant Council of Rwanda (CPR), Rev. Dr. Samuel RUGAMBAGE chaired the meeting to launch the research done to investigate the challenges faced by inclusive education program and to propose some recommendations and strategies to tackle the issues. The General Secretary in his opening remarks, he said that protestant churches have responsibilities to help people in need and recalled the audience what Jesus said in Mathew 25v40: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.”
The research was done by two researchers: The senior researcher Dr. Betty Nasiforo, sight impaired and senior lecturer at the University of Rwanda and the associated researcher Mr. Abel Dufitumukiza, PhD candidate and lecturer at the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS) presented the report of the work done for one year and a half. In his introductory remarks, Rev. Samuel MUTABAZI, the Director of National Office of Protestant Education (BNEP) says that this research will serve as a strong foundation to successfully implement and promote inclusive education program in Protestant schools.
Some challenges of inclusive education encountered in protestant schools are:
1. Some Disabled children are hidden by their parents in their families and are banned from any form of education;
2. Lack of adequate tools and equipment to help the disabled children at school;
3. Lack of adaptive curriculum for the pupils with disabilities;
4. Rejection of disabled children by other school children and community;
5. Lack of teachers’ training to help children with various disability;
6. Some people do confuse some kinds of disabilities with demonic disease;
7. Lack of adaptive school infrastructures;
Some proposed recommendations from researchers
1. The Protestant Council of RWANDA (CPR) to establish a Centre of excellence to help Protestant schools deal with challenges related to inclusive education program;
2. The CPR to develop a teacher training manual to tackle the faced issues;
3. The CPR to conduct pedagogical and methodological training to develop skills in the area of inclusive education;
4. The CPR to develop an educational management information system to keep data from all Protestant schools in Rwanda;
5. The CPR member churches to promote adequate treatment and integration of people with disabilities. Particularly, the children in schools;
The participants propose other recommendations like these two among many:
i) The CPR church members to, through Diakonia Department, greatly support disabled people, especially children who need to go to school and special healthcare;
ii) The CPR church members to create a desk to help disabled people and put them in church decision making organs and equally share with them church opportunities ( eg: scholarship etc)
The National Representative of Protestant education and president of education commission in Protestant Council of Rwanda and President of Presbyterian church of Rwanda, Rev. Dr. Pascal BATARINGAYA alongside the General Secretary of the CPR express a huge thank you to the researchers, the participants and Bread for the World for the financial support for this research project.
By Marcel SEBAHIRE
Head of Education and youth department in EAR Shyogwe Diocese