The impact of Inclusive Education (I.E) on the Rights of Children with Intellectual Disabilities (IDs) in Chegutu
This study investigated the impact of Inclusive Education (IE) on the rights of children with Intellectual Disabilities in schools around Chegutu. The qualitative case study method was used for the research. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from schools around Chegutu. Random sampling was used to choose the sample group from a total population of 80. Thirty respondents which comprised of 10 teachers, 10 children and 10 parents from the five secondary schools constituted the sample group. The results of the study showed that inclusive education recognizes the rights of children with intellectual disabilities. However, parents complained that IE do not offer conducive learning environments of children with IDs because the infrastructure in the schools do not cater for the children with IDS. Also the children interviewed looked down upon children with IDs. They called them ZIMCARES, imbeciles or morons. This tended to violate the ID children’s rights to dignity. This study encourages the government to uphold the rights of ID children in IE. There should be an education policy to fully cater for the educational needs of learners with IDs in inclusive settings. There is a serious need for awareness campaigns to remove the stigma attached to learners with IDs. Key Terms: inclusive education, rights of children, intellectual disabilities, schools 1. Background of the study Disability carries multiple stigmas that are the source of exclusion from school and society at large. Exclusion from both school and society has cost the intellectually disabled people their right to education. The United Nation, cited in Chimoyo at al (2011:03) posts that, “of the 61 million children out of school globally, a third (1/3) of them have disabilities and most of them live in sub Saharan African (43%) and South and West Asia (27%), in Nepal, almost 6% of children are out of school and 85% of these have disabilities that in include intellectual disability (ID)”. According to Ternward Cheshire handbook (2012) in Malawi and Tanzania, having disability doubles the probability of children never attending school. The new Zimbabwean constitution cited in Monolipa (2013:03) reports that “one in every three children with disabilities in Zimbabwe is out of school and that 75% children with disabilities never complete primary school in Zimbabwe”. The ratification of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2008 and the assenting of the new constitution of Zimbabwe on May 13 2013 by the President signaled the dawn of a new era for persons with disabilities. According to the Norwegian SINTEF Disability Living Conditions Survey, from 2001, 28% of disabled children never attended school but with the advent of disability legislation from 2008 only 13% of the children with disabilities could not attended school. Most children with intellectual disabilities had been included in regular school. The inclusion of children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) in regular schools prompted the research to investigate the impact of inclusive education (IE) on the rights of ID children in Zimbabwe’s secondary schools.