Inclusive Education Opportunities in Punjab Pakistan: A Locale Based Comparison

Abstract

Purpose: The constitution of Pakistan firmly stated that no discrimination of opportunities will be tolerated among the citizens of Pakistan on behalf of color, creed, language, disability etc. But unfortunately, the dream of equality could not become reality. Inclusive education has been taking significant importance for the education of persons with disabilities (PWD’s) for a few decades. But, without equal opportunities, the seed of inclusion can never be fertiled. This study is an effort to depict the difference of existing inclusive education opportunities between rural and urban secondary schools of Punjab Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: Survey method was used to collect data from 196 male and female teachers serving in rural and urban secondary schools of conveniently selected five districts viz Okara, Lahore, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, and, kasur with a self-reporting questionnaire named Research Questionnaire on the Condition of Available Inclusive Education Opportunities in Secondary Schools of Punjab. For cross-validation, an interview schedule was made to take data from 17 students with disabilities. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used.
 Findings: The study found that there was no significant difference of inclusive education opportunities in rural and urban secondary schools of Punjab.
 Implications/Originality/Value: However special students denied various opportunities claimed by the inclusive education teachers.