INCLUSIVE EDUCATION:

A PANACEA TOWARDS THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS AS PERCEIVED BY TEACHERS IN AGUATA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the “Inclusive education: A panacea towards the education of children with disabilities in pre-primary schools as perceived by teachers in Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State.” Four research questions guided the study. The study was a descriptive research design. The population was 1330 teachers in the 78 public pre-primary/primary schools in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. A random sampling technique was used to select 200 pre-primary schoolteachers who participated in the study. A structured questionnaire, which had the test-retest reliability of 0.91 after correlating the two sets of scores from pilot studies, with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, was used as an instrument for the collection of data. The questionnaire used in this study was given to three (3) experts. The researcher and the research assistants collected necessary data from the teachers in each school. The data collected were analysed using mean and standard deviation. The findings showed that inclusive education has significant impacts on children with disabilities in pre-primary schools. Parents’ socioeconomic status has an impact on their children with disabilities in pre-primary schools. Problems facing the education of children with disabilities in pre-primary schools include the inadequacy of educational funding and educational materials. Government efforts towards promoting the education of children with disabilities in pre-primary schools include establishing of various schools to take care of the needs of the disabled children, among others. Recommendations were made based on the findings that the Government should establish more schools to care for the needs of children with disabilities. The researcher suggested that further studies should be carried out on the effect of early childhood education on children with disabilities