Challenges of Implementing Inclusive Education: Evidence from Selected Developing Countries

Abstract

Inclusive education is deemed to be a lofty goal that every nation should strive to achieve. It helps people living with disabilities and people without any disabilities to have equal access to educational materials, resources, and training without any discrimination. Therefore, international advocates and governments have made conscious efforts to achieve inclusive education. However, the implementation of inclusive education and its related policies is difficult, especially in developing countries. The lofty inclusive education is challenging and almost impossible to achieve. This paper, therefore, aims to assess and highlight the challenges frustrating the implementation of inclusive education, particularly in developing countries. It is obvious that these countries are lagging behind in the achievement of inclusive education due to a wide range of challenges identified in this study. To achieve this aim, the paper employed a theoretical research method. The method allowed several extant studies, especially those published in mainstream journals, on the subject to be reviewed and explored extensively. The review of extant studies on the challenges encountered in the implementation of inclusive education produced a number of pertinent findings. So, the findings of the study revealed that societal attitude towards people living with disabilities, poor attitude of the government, inadequate infrastructure, poor funding, and a host of other reasons are the key factors frustrating the implementation of inclusive education, causing the low level of inclusiveness in the developing nations. These findings help inclusive education advocates, international organizations, and governments alike, to narrow their focus on these challenges and develop approaches to overcome them in order to achieve their end goal of inclusive education. It is therefore suggested that government should organize training programs for teachers and head teachers on how best to manage an inclusive classroom and offer inclusive education.

Implementation of Inclusive Education: An Exploration of Determinants, Challenges and Opportunities

“…• Infrastructure and accessibility Infrastructure and accessibility pose significant challenges to the successful implementation of inclusive education (Sijuola & Davidova, 2022). In developing countries like India and Indonesia, inadequate infrastructure, including inaccessible physical environments in schools, hinders the effective inclusion of children with disabilities (Prathama et al, 2022;& Lister et al, 2022).…”

“…• Social Integration and Acceptance Social integration and acceptance indeed pose significant challenges to the successful implementation of inclusive education (Svraka et al, 2022;Furrer, 2023;& Sijuola & Davidova, 2022). Studies highlight that children with special educational needs often face reduced social participation, fewer interactions, and lower acceptance in inclusive settings.…”

“…Haug (2017) stated that no country has yet succeeded in constructing a school system that lives up to the ideals and intentions of inclusion, as defined by different international organizations. Inclusive education remains challenging and almost impossible to achieve, especially in developing countries due to factors like societal attitude, government attitude, infrastructure, and funding (Sijuola & Davidova, 2022). Inclusive education is not satisfactorily implemented in most developing countries due to factors like lack of support services, relevant materials, personnel training, funding structure, and enabling legislation (Eleweke & Rodda, 2002).…”

Principalship Experiences on Inclusive Education: A Systematic Review

“…The reason for this issue is comprehensive, including poverty, location, gender, language, disability, ethnicity, religion, and other related factors (UNESCO, 2023). In the implementation of inclusive education, scholars have faced some challenges in recent years through research and development, including negative attitudes and misconceptions toward inclusive education (Sari et al, 2022;Sijuola & Davidova, 2022), insufficient training, lack of knowledge and skills of educators (Mpu & Adu, 2021;Zabeli & Gjelaj, 2020), limited resources, including in-adequate infrastructure, poor funding, personnel, and materials (Sijuola & Davidova, 2022), large class sizes (Mpu & Adu, 2021), limited parental engagement (Shurr et al, 2023), lack of inclusive and accessible assessment tools (Tay & Kee, 2020). In addition，the global pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges such as disruptions to regular school routines, increased educational inequalities, and the need for innovative approaches to inclusive education (Page et al, 2021).…”