According to the UN estimation, currently, there are more than 650 million persons withrndifferent types of disabilities in the world. And in Ethiopia, it is expected to be more than 10rnMillion at national level. But, unfortunately, the number of students with disabilities at higherrneducational institutions is not known. For the fact that persons with disabilities are humanrnbeings, they have the fundamental rights that human society deserves. These category of personsrndo have the right to learn in higher educational institutions. However, the recognition, protectionrnand enforcement of the rights to education of persons with disabilities may vary according torntime, place, economy, culture, social, etc development of a given society or country.rnEducation or learning is considered to be one of the fundamental principles of the SecondrnGenerations of Human Rights. It could be considered as the basis for all walks of life for bothrnpersonal and national development. And when it comes to higher education, it would be the mostrnvaluable matter which needs proper protection. This important concept of the protection ofrngeneral and specific educational human rights of persons with disabi lities has somehow beenrndirectly or indirectly incorporated in different international, regional, and national legal andrnpolicy instruments. Of these instruments, the 1945 UN ChaIier, the 1948 Universal Declarationrnof Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1966rnInternational Covenant on Economic, Social aIld Cultural Rights, different ILO Instruments ,thernAfrican Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, UN Convention on the Rights of Persons withrnDisabilities, etc are some among others. Ethiopia has ratified and/or adopted most of theserndifferent international and regional human rights instruments and included provisions in itsrnconstitution on basic rights of persons with disabilities.rnIn Ethiopia, the rights of citizens to equal access to publicly funded services and the support thatrnshall be given to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities has been stipulated in thernconstitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia of 1995. Moreover, the Educationalrnand Training Policy of Ethiopia of 1994 further states that attempt shall be made to enablernpersons with disabilities learn in aCCOrdaI1Ce to their potential and needs. In addition, the HigherrnEducation Institutions Establishment Proclamation of the Federal Democratic Republic ofrnEthiopia clearly declares that persons with disabilities shall get special protection and supportrnduring their stay in the institutions.In view of these points, this socio-Iegal study has attempted to assess and identify the protectionrnof the general and specific educational human rights of students with disabilities in higherrneducational institutions of Ethiopia. The problems and challenges faced by them in the higherrneducational institutions are summarized in the fo llowing broad areas of focus like: the existencernand awareness of legal and policy matters together with their implementation issues,rnparticipation in decision making and social conditions, educational issues, matters related withrnservices, accessibility issues, disability-gender based and emotional issues and other generalrnmatters which are considered to be important have been mentioned and analyzed in this paper.rnTo achieve the research, I have used different approaches. Accordingly, about five public andrntwo private higher educational institutions were selected. In order to attain the stated objectivesrnof the study, the doctrinal and non-doctrinal methods of legal research have been employed. Thernqualitative data have included the primary and secondary information. Again, to collect thernquantitative data, questionnaires were developed. These consisted of 3 major divisions and morernthan 60 items, categorized under 8 issues. From the three category of my respondents, personsrnwith disabilities = 68 out of 100 (68%): Administrative bodies =38 out of 50 (76%): studentsrnwith no disabilities= 77 out of 100 (77%): the sum total = 183 out of250 (73%): have given theirrnresponse. Inaddition to legislative and documentary materials, interviews with more than 25rnconcerned bodies, personal case study, direct personal observation, etc have also been held justrnto supplement the data gathered through the set of questionnaires.rnDespite the existence of the aforementioned various international, regional and domestic humanrnrights instruments, the findings of this study for all issues have indicated that almost all of therntime there have been observed the non-existence of proper internal laws and policies followed byrnnon observance of the educational human rights of persons with disabilities in the sample higherrnlearning institutions. This intern has contributed for the non observance of the other human rightsrnof persons with disabilities.rnBecause, in most cases, persons with disabilities are not given equal opportunities to participaternin decision making and social matters neither they have special body to fac ilitate their demands.rnAlso, as regards the issue of accessibility of built environment and facilities, the layout of thernmost higher educational institutions do not suit to the special needs of students with disabilities.It has again been highlighted that there are very serious shortage of educational materials andrnequipment in the sample higher institutions. Additionally, financial support and assistance,rnguidance and counseling , proper library services are almost all nonexistent. Besides, it seemsrnthat there are no effective interaction between the students with disabilities and students with norndisabilities in the sample higher learning institutions. The majority of students with disabilitiesrnexpress that they are hardly psychologically treated by their instructors, friends and others.rnSo, by now, it is hardly possible to say that there is protection of human rights of persons withrndisabilities in most higher educational institutions of Ethiopia. This could be said that therneducational human rights recognized by the constitution, the Proclamation, etc have not yet beenrnimplemented as much as it deserves. Thus, in general, based on the findings and discussionsrnmade, the researcher has given his different suggestions like, strengthen the proper participationrnof persons with disabilities, facilitate the awareness of right holders and the duty bearers;rnpromote possible intervention from the side of policy and law makers, enforcing bodies,rninterpreters; the society etc; at national level. These could be helpful to solve the problems ofrnpersons with disabilities and protect their human rights in different higher learning institutions ofrnEthiopia.