Special Education Challenges Involving the Most Vulnerable Children: Experiences from Rwanda

The class of children with special education needs is much broader than a group of students with disabilities and adds another level of complexity to educational design. It challenges notions of what special education is and how it is delivered. This implies a drastic reorientation in how competing educational needs are addressed and the attendant mechanisms to resolve differences. The children of post-genocide Rwanda are a particularly vulnerable population in a country where financial deficits are acute. Valiant efforts are being made to assure education for all in Rwanda, but challenges persist. The war left many as orphans, street children and heads of households. Realities of posttraumatic stress syndrome, hunger, poverty, illiteracy and rural isolation make social development precarious. The presenter, who received a Fulbright-Hays 2004 Project Scholarship, recently returned from Rwanda where she researched the efficacy of the Gacaca courts.