Teachers’ Competences and Teaching-Learning Strategies for Pupils With Disabilities in Regular Public Primary Schools of Ngoma Sector, Huye District-Rwanda

The study aimed at establishing the professional qualifications of teachers educating pupils with disabilities, investigating whether teachers in regular public primary schools are able to identify and assess pupils with disabilities, and identifying teaching-learning strategies and materials used by teachers when educating pupils with disabilities. The study adopted a descriptive design. The study embarked on interviews for head teachers by use of structural interview schedule, semi-structural questionnaire for teachers and finally a lesson observation schedule for pupils with disabilities and materials utilized in classroom. The study was conducted in Ngoma Sector, Huye District. Purposive sampling was used to select the Sector, schools, classes, head teachers and teachers. Pupils with disabilities were randomly selected. The sample size comprised 4 head teachers, 52 teachers making a total of 56 respondents. The results were obtained and presented based on the objectives and questions formulated for the study. The study found that all teachers had professional qualifications to teach classes 1–6 but all of them had not been specialized in the area of disabilities. Also, none of the head teachers had knowledge about disabilities. It was found out that head teachers demonstrated a skill gap in identifying pupils with disabilities and their skills deficit, hence appropriate intervention was not done. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education facilitate training teachers to enable them acquire modern teaching and learning methods. Rwanda Education Board to ensure that standardized identification and assessment tools and various teaching materials are developed. Finally, pul-lout programs initiated in schools so that pupils with specific learning difficulties can be assisted by the resourced teachers.