The role of inclusive education in the socioeconomic development of people with disabilities in Bugesera District, Rwanda

Abstract

People with unique abilities and disabilities can be found worldwide, representing diverse populations within every society. Numerous discussions have arisen regarding the optimal approach to educating children with special educational requirements. The purpose of this paper was to assess the role of inclusive education in the socioeconomic development of people with disability in Rwanda. This paper was supported with Functionalist theory and Deprivation Theory. The researcher used descriptive research design and the participants were Headteachers, people with disabilities and local administrators. Target population were 780 including 675 people with disabilities, 60 local community administrators. The researcher employed a simple random sampling technique to choose respondents among people with disabilities in community. In this regard, headteachers from inclusive schools was selected due to their experience in providing responses and adequate information about people with education. The researcher used stratified sampling technique for selecting local community administrators’ members relying on their expertise and information about people with disabilities.  Using questionnaire and interview guide, collected data was analyzed using SPSS 22.0 in analysis procedure. This study revealed a strong relationship between inclusive education and socioeconomic development in Rwanda. This relationship was substantiated by a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of 0.932, which was associated with a statistically significant p-value of 0.000 for a two-tailed test. This suggests a highly positive and statistically significant association between well-implemented inclusive education and socioeconomic development in Rwanda. The findings also found that all variables were coherent with the socioeconomic development affected with different inclusive education as it is shown by the regression analysis model with Square of 0.868 meaning that inclusive education was appreciated to enhance socio economic development in Rwanda. In conclusion, all the respondents have consistently emphasized the necessity of implementing various inclusive education practices to facilitate the socioeconomic development of people with disabilities in Rwanda. The research shows that there is a lack of Community Based Rehabilitation Program (CBR) to benefit people with disabilities to improve their daily lives and health practice. Due to lack of CBR, all families of people with disabilities are bearing socio-economic burden. Since there is high population of people with disabilities, it is necessary to bring such kind of program to support the people with disabilities and their families as well.