INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: THE ROLE, CHALLENGES AND PREPARATION OF TEACHERS

Abstract

Inclusive education is an emerging concept that has recently drawn the attention of both local and international stakeholders in education. Major organizations with educational interests, such as the United Nations Organization (UNO), United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) etc, are also not left out in the intellectual discourse concerning the success of inclusive education across the globe. The implementation of inclusive education in Nigerian schools involves making learning environment conducive, providing enough equipments and training teachers on how to handled learning disabled. The paper examined the role, challenges and preparation of teachers towards the task of implementing inclusive education in Nigeria. Numerous challenges facing inclusive education in the country include inadequate funding by the government, inappropriate socio-cultural and religious practices, massive neglect in the development of functional school libraries over the years, erratic and inadequate funding of projects and programmes etc. It was recommended that, campaign should be mounted to sensitize teachers and parents on ways of handling, identifying and caring for individuals with special needs.