OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EFFECTIVE INCLUSIVE PRACTICE IN BANGLADESHI PRIMARY SCHOOL

Education

The government of Bangladesh is committed to ensure education for all according to their constitutional commitment and the National Education Policy (2010). Inclusive education is an important issue to ensure education for all. Inclusive education refers to all children their neighboring mainstream school including children with disabilities fulfilling requirements according to their needs which can ensure their teaching-learning environment (Knowles, 2018).Several international declaration and policies such as the Salamanca statement (1994) help to understand the importance of this. The principles of social justice (Rawls, 1971 cited in Benjamin and Emejulu, 2012) which aims to promote social harmony, equality, and respect for all can help the educators to implement inclusive practice minimizing inequalities and injustice.Researchers have shown in their studies that like other developing countries, Bangladesh is facing challenges to implementing inclusive practice effectively. This study aims to explore the opportunities and barriers to the effective implementation of inclusive practice in Bangladeshi primary schools. Four teachers and two administrative officers took part in the qualitative research study, where semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. A thematic approach was used to analysis the data. The study found that different policies and initiatives such as the National Education Policy, SLIP and UPEP project, supplying free books and stipend for all students are some of the opportunities for inclusion deployed by the state. On the other hand, poverty, lack of social awareness, lack of skilled teachers and educators, the rigidity of curriculum and lack of proper infrastructural development are the barriers to inclusion in the context of Bangladesh. The need for specific initiatives and increasing the provided supports as a measure of the effective implementation of the inclusive practice is required for positive change to be embedded in schools.

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