THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN SINDH: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

The aim of conducting current study was to assess the challenges and opportunities facing in the implementation of inclusive education in selected public primary schools of Karachi. The focus of the current study was to highlight the challenges and opportunities of inclusive education in mainstream schools as per 21st century needs. The data were collected from two (15 boys & 15 girls) mainstream schools of Karachi. A five-point Likert scale was developed to collect the data after review of the literature. Which consisted of 10 close ended items and one open-ended questionnaire was developed which was consisted of 6 questions (3 for school heads and 3 for senior school teachers). The data for the current study was collected from school heads and one senior teacher of each school. The collected quantitative data were analyzed with help of frequency and percentage while qualitative data was analyzed briefly through the themes. The findings of study revealed that the schools have slight opportunities with lots of challenges like a lack of commitment, collaboration and awareness among teachers and parents towards children with special needs. These are actual challenges that delay the implementation process of inclusive education. It is concluded that challenges are creating hinders for implementation of inclusive education and it is recommended that government should provide special budget to schools for provision of special education material and equipment, training of teachers, took proper attention towards differently able children and implementation of inclusive education