To further support home-schooling for special needs students, the government, through various partners, has embarked on a journey to donate braille text books and recorders that will, among other things, aid visually impaired students access digital content.

In April this year, a few weeks after the government closed all schools to curb the spread of Covid-19, this publication featured an article that pointed out how disabled children were lagging behind in home-schooling due to lack of resources.

In an exclusive interview with this publication, however, Marie Rose Ntawiha, inclusive education project manager at H&I (Human and Inclusion), says that disabled students have particularly been vulnerable, owing to the little-to-no aid that has been rendered to them.

"We have so far donated 504 braille textbooks samples to 168 students with total loss vision in all the 30 districts of the country,” Ntawiha says.

She explains, "Much as the government puts effort in facilitating home-schooling programmes for students across the country, we noticed that students with various disabilities are left out, thus coming up with this initiative.”

For instance, she adds, while students in mainstream schools can follow the TV class sessions, it is impossible for a student with total vision loss to be part of that class.

"Therefore we record the lessons on TV and make braille textbooks for them (special needs students) to keep up with other students. This has actually proven to be of more advantage because as opposed to the TV sessions, these students can revise using the text books,” Ntawiha says. 

How do the materials reach these students?

According to Ntawiha, the Ministry of Education provides all names and locations where the students reside.  

"Even before the lockdown, we worked with various special needs education schools in capacity building and other programmes. This has helped us keep in touch with their families, hence, a smooth individual education plan,” she says.

Additionally, "We have also provided recorders to these students so they can follow up on the lessons despite being unable to see.”

The initiative aims at donating braille pamphlets, recorders and audiobooks to help them in their learning while at home, especially now that we are not sure when schools will reopen, Ntawiha asserts.

Cherish Nkurunziza, a Kigali City School teacher, is of the view that the initiative is a milestone at the perfect time.

"Going by the fact that schools are not likely to reopen in September, it would be really challenging for these students to remain in their respective homes without being facilitated in their learning,” Nkurunziza says.  

Nkurunziza, who is also part of the inclusive local education activists, observes that the development comes at a time when special needs students need it most.

"As an inclusive social education activist, I know that concerns had emerged on the well-being of these students. In particular, some of them are not happy with staying at home. But this gives them a chance to become busy and ignore other distractions” she says.

Mary Kobusingye, a special needs education specialist, calls upon parents who are receiving this form of facilitation to ensure that they are maximised for the benefit of the children.

"It is true that we can’t solve everything at once. But we urge these parents to take good care of these materials and ensure that their students gain from them, thus preventing backslide in what they have learnt so far.”

Statistics from the Ministry of Education indicate that there are over 2,700 visually impaired students in nursery, primary, secondary, technical schools and tertiary schools across the country, with over 50 inclusive schools.

Commenting on the development, the executive secretary of the National Council for People with Disabilities (NCPD), Emmanuel Ndayisaba, echoes the same sentiments, citing that the move will particularly help those students from marginalised and remote areas of the country.

"Not all of them have acquired the braille pamphlets and recorders but at least those from the marginalised families have received them. It is good news for students who have been finding it hard to follow classes from TV, online and radio, but with the provision of braille books and other materials they will catch up with others as they stay in the lockdown,” Ndayisaba says.