Educational inclusion of children with special needs in Osun State, Nigeria

Education is vital for national development and social justice, as affirmed by global frameworks. Despite Nigeria's progress through the Universal Basic Education programme, the inclusion of children with special needs remains inadequate, mostly at the sub-national level. The study assessed the level of inclusion of children with special needs in Osun State government-owned primary schools and identified the challenges faced. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling technique to capture diverse groups. It purposively selected nine special needs schools and then randomly chose key stakeholders. Convenience sampling targeted accessible impaired children, while systematic sampling yielded 351 respondents. These included 110 public primary school teachers (including headmasters/mistresses), 125 parents, 45 NGO officials, 20 government officials, and 51 children with special needs. Fifteen key informants were interviewed due to their direct involvement in inclusive education processes. Data were collected using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Reliability was ensured through pilot testing, while secondary data were from journals, books, internet sources, and SUBEB. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and content analysis. The findings indicated that inclusive education in Osun State faces challenges of limited awareness, inadequate resources, and insufficiently trained staff. However, the study recommends that the government should allocate increased funding to special needs education, recruit and train more inclusive education specialists, provide assistive learning materials in public schools, and ensure full implementation and regular monitoring of inclusive education policies at the state and local government levels to achieve measurable improvements.