Challenges facing the implementation of inclusive primary education: A case study of turkana West district, Kenya

The tenet of the study was that despite the efforts made by government and other education practitioners to provide education for all, there are challenges facing the implementation of inclusive primary education in most public primary schools. The government has invested substantial amounts and human resources directed towards compulsory free primary education in an effort to promote pupils' performance, gender equality and provision of equal opportunities to all Kenyan children despite regional disparity in the face of the social, technological and curriculum innovation. "Education has a purpose. That purpose is to translate from one generation to the next, the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of society and prepare the young people for their future mainstreaming or development. This is true of all societies. The capitalist society of the east and African societies too" Eshiwani (1993:24). Education therefore, has not achieved its goals of enabling one to acquire what he/she longs for. Learners with special needs are mostly affected since they are seen to have no place in the immediate schools. Many parents and even caretakers ignore them and strive to educate those without disabilities (the so called normal). The disabled children are seen to be uncompetitive in strolling for occupation and other jobs in life. Since education is a vital factor, it brings about total change in a persons' life to meet global challenges and proper interventions with the wide diverse communities of the world. The objectives are; to determine the challenges facing the implementation of inclusive primary education, to analyze the cause of the challenges facing the implementation of inclusive primary education, to determine the strategies for overcoming the challenges facing the implementation of inclusive primary education and to find out the extent to which curriculum adversely affects implementation of inclusive primary education. The researcher investigated the barriers or challenges to all learners irrespective of the special needs which are within and outside the school. The researcher further identified children with unique needs and recommended intervention strategies which would enhance the implementation of inclusion in schools of Turkana West District. She also investigated and placed the attitude of gathering the requirement of inclusion in Turkana West District. Her intentions were to sensitize and create awareness to the public to enhance the arresting of the situation at hand to foster the implementation of the system, within the existing schools in the district. One EARC officer, 400 teachers and 3 were divisional inspectors formed the study population, stratified random sampling was used to select 50 schools from which 26 teachers were involved in the study. Also included, were three divisional inspectors representing the three educational divisions in the district. Interview schedules and questionnaires were used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed and presented using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages while the findings were reported in summary form using tables, figures and graphs. The study established that there are barriers to the implementation of inclusive primary education in the world, Africa, Kenya and more so to schools of Turkana West. The researcher however recommends that the government should provide adequate centres offering inclusive education, train and deploy enough personnel (teachers), provide enough teaching/learning materials, discourage cultural beliefs and practices which affect implementation negatively, create consistent management of schools, unrestrictive environment and formulation of flexible curriculum to accommodate the needs of these learners.