{"id":2386,"date":"2026-07-16T13:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=2386"},"modified":"2026-07-16T13:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:34:20","slug":"rwanda-to-invest-rwf24-8-billion-in-education-for-children-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/rwanda-to-invest-rwf24-8-billion-in-education-for-children-with-disabilities\/politics\/national\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda to invest Rwf24.8 billion in education for children with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Rwanda will invest Rwf24.8 billion by 2029 to expand education services for children with disabilities, including the construction of specialised schools, support centres and the expansion of inclusive learning programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investment will fund the construction of five specialised schools, with one planned in each province and the City of Kigali. The facilities will support children with autism and other intellectual disabilities, with Rwf18.66 billion allocated for the construction programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An additional Rwf3.75 billion will be used to build and equip 20 centres that provide support services for children with disabilities, while Rwf2.40 billion will support inclusive education programmes for children with disabilities and learners requiring additional assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was announced by Muyizere Iren\u00e9e, director of the Special Needs and Inclusive Education Department at the Rwanda Education Board (REB), during the release of a study on the education of children with disabilities in Rwanda\u2019s pre-primary schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study, released on July 15, 2026, by the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF) in partnership with CLADHO and a coalition of human rights organisations, found that about 4.4% of Rwandans aged five and above have disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It showed that children with disabilities remain underrepresented in schools. Of the 4.16 million learners in Rwanda, about 39,000 are registered as having disabilities, representing 0.9% of the total student population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The participation of children with disabilities in pre-primary education remains below 1%, according to the study. Researchers said limited access to early education affects children\u2019s development, including their cognitive abilities, social skills and behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Families with children with disabilities often face financial challenges, including transport costs and medical expenses, which can limit school attendance. In rural areas, the study identified barriers such as inaccessible infrastructure and limited access to early assessment and support services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government aims to increase the number of children with disabilities enrolled in primary schools from 31,751 in the 2023\/24 academic year to 80,323 by 2028\/29, Muyizere said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three of the planned specialised schools are expected to begin operating within the next two years, while the remaining two will be established later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muyizere said the schools will be located near mainstream schools to encourage interaction between children with and without disabilities. The facilities will also provide health services and other support, with admission determined by the level of disability. The government will provide subsidies for school fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children with severe autism will be enrolled in specialised schools, while those with mild autism and other disabilities will continue learning in mainstream schools with additional support. This will include specialised classrooms, teacher training and assistive technologies such as sign language resources and Braille materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have trained more than 4,000 teachers in early identification and assessment of children with disabilities so they can receive support at the right time,” Muyizere said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda has made progress in expanding inclusive education. The number of pre-primary schools implementing inclusive education programmes increased from 5.7% in 2017 to 66% in the 2024\/25 academic year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the same period, the number of children with disabilities enrolled in early childhood development centres more than doubled, rising from 1,362 to 3,125.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda will invest Rwf24.8 billion by 2029 to expand education services for children with disabilities, including the construction of specialised schools, support centres and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts_on_rwanda","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2386\/revisions\/2388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}