Enhancing Inclusive Education for Hearing Impaired Students: An Evaluation of Development Cooperation Interventions in Rwanda

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate two development initiatives introduced to provide inclusive education for deaf children and those with hearing impairments. Based on a thorough literature review of ongoing laws and policies on inclusive education in the East African region, the authors delve into the case of Rwanda, which has not only established relevant policy framework but also has publicly shared development cooperation initiatives on inclusive education.
Originality: Despite the emphasis on inclusive education in the overarching education Sustainable Development Goal and its related target SDG 4.5, there is limited research on how inclusive education for children with disabilities is offered in the Global South. In the academic literature, the discussion revolves around whether appropriate policies have been introduced, factors that contribute to inequalities for deaf children, and the presence or the lack of official sign language in the country. This paper delves into development projects that aim to enhance educational opportunities for deaf children in a low resource setting to highlight which unmet needs have been addressed and require further support and consideration for international development cooperation.
Methodology: This study offers a comparative case study of two development projects, the Global Accessible Digital Textbook Initiative (ADT) and the Resource Center (RC), rolled out through the support of development donors, including UNICEF and the World Bank, respectively. Two projects are compared based on the theory of change (ToC) developed for each project by the authors based on project reports.
Result: The results of ToC were interpreted across the three main agents: 1) students, parents and citizens, 2) frontline providers and 3) government, according to Pritchett (2015). In the current format, ADT and RCs are geared towards students already in the education system, though some RCs may be accessible to out-of-school children. At the teacher and school level, there has been considerable capacity building for the ADT, but relatively small emphasis on identifying disabilities early on. At the government level, establishment of relevant ecosystem or committees was pursued for ADT, but not for RC.
Conclusions and Implication: Both ADT and RC have contributed to the overarching goal of delivering universal and equitable access to education. Yet, there is room for improvement on two fronts. First, additional indicators need to be collected and shared for more nuanced assessment beyond measuring progress on the delivery of outputs. Second, ADT and RC are inherently complementary, since ADT is more student-centered development project, while RC is school or community-level project. The engagement of diverse stakeholders in the ADT initiative is worthwhile noting, since there is relatively limited information about the scope of collaboration happening to increase the use of RCs. Learning about successful and failed activities across ADT and RC may provide lessons learned for Rwanda and other countries with limited resources keen on providing better opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.