Roles of Government Policies on Access to Skilled and Inclusive Education for Special Needs Children in Public Senior Secondary Schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis

Abstract

Roles of Government policies on access to skilled and inclusive education in public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt metropolis. The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 111. This comprised the principals and vice principals from all public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt Metropolis. The sample size stood at 111 respondents. The census sampling technique was adopted since the population was a manageable figure. Data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire item titled Government policy on access to skilled and inclusive education for special needs children. The instrument was given face and content validity by two experts in the Department of Educational Management, Rivers State University. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using Cronbach's alpha and a reliability coefficient of 0.80 was obtained. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while z-test statistics were used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 Significance level. Findings revealed that despite the existence of Government policies, their implementation remains weak. Public senior secondary schools in Port Harcourt metropolis still lack teachers who are sufficiently trained in special needs pedagogy. Curriculum adaptation for diverse categories of learners is rarely practiced. These gaps continue to limit access, retention, and effective participation of special needs children in mainstream education. The study concludes that government policies are pivotal in shaping the extent to which teacher training and curriculum adaptation influence access to inclusive education in Port Harcourt Metropolis. The study therefore recommends, among others, that Government should increase funding for continuous teacher training and curriculum implementation to ensure the realization of inclusive education goals in Nigeria.