| dc.description.abstract | Despite the Kenyan Government’s efforts to make education accessible to all, inclusive education has not been fully realized in Manga Sub-county of Nyamira County. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to explore the challenges facing implementation of inclusive education in Public Primary Schools in Manga Sub-county, Nyamira County, Kenya. Objectives of the study were to: Find out the School Curriculum challenges facing inclusive education; determine Teacher related challenges facing inclusive education; investigate the Community challenges facing implementation of inclusive education and explore the Mitigation measures of effectively implementing inclusive education. The study employed a descriptive research design and was guided by the Classical Liberal Theory. The target populations were 58 head teachers, 86 parents and guardians, 1167 Teachers, 6 Community Opinion Leaders, 2 Education Assessment and Resource Coordinators (EARCs) and a Sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (SCQASO). The 58 Public Primary Schools were reduced by 30% to 18 Public Primary Schools to allow a reasonable number of Schools in a qualitative study. Therefore, the sample constituted 18 head teachers, 171 Teachers, (Stratified Random Sampling Technique); 36 Parents and Guardians, (Purposive Sampling), 6 Community Opinion Leaders, 2 EARCs and a SCQASO (Saturated Sampling Technique).The Methods of data collection were Interview, Questionnaires, Observation and Document analysis. Reliability of the instruments was addressed through Piloting in 6 schools within the sub-county. Test retest method of reliability was done and a reliability co-efficient of the instruments was obtained at 0.823 and 0.762 for the head teachers’ and class teachers’ questionnaires respectively. Validity was done through expert judgment of the supervisor. Qualitative data from the interviews was analyzed on the basis of themes and sub themes that emerged from the study. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages. On the concern about curriculum challenges facing inclusive education, the study found out that the curriculum was not suitable for inclusive education, documents supporting inclusive education were grossly not available in schools; Teachers’ negative attitude, limited knowledge on inclusive education, use of unfriendly teaching techniques and inappropriate teaching resources were the main teacher related challenges facing inclusive education, Majority of the school Community members were very unsupportive and had little knowledge of inclusive education; The main mitigation measures of effectively implementing inclusive education were; to make the curriculum adaptable to inclusive education, training and in-servicing teachers, sensitizing community members on benefits of inclusive education and involving them in its implementation. It was concluded that Public Primary Schools had not adequately embraced implementation of inclusive education and were not enjoying the benefits associated with it. The study recommended that the curriculum should be re-organized to make it adaptable to inclusive education, training and in- servicing teachers and sensitizing community on inclusive education. A study on influence of school-community relationship in the implementation of inclusive education in Public Primary Schools in Kenya would expound the understanding of the present study. | en_US |
