Implementing inclusive education in primary schools in Bangladesh: recommended strategies

Abstract

Continued discrimination towards, and exclusion of, children with special needs, combined with the high dropout rate of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, creates considerable pressure on the inclusive education (IE) reform initiatives of developing countries. To minimise the challenges to implementing IE reform policies into classroom level practices, education systems need to apply strategies which are contextually useful. Bangladesh has introduced a number of policies and acts to support IE reform in regular schools. In the past, there were few and limited empirical studies in the context of primary education, which focus on IE. Recently, a number of studies conducted in Bangladesh have identified some contextual issues underpinning IE implementation. This paper reports on three such doctoral studies that investigated issues related to the implementation of IE policy in primary schools in Bangladesh. This paper focuses on the implications of the major findings of those studies. It is expected that the contextual evidence and implications of the findings will help primary education development programmes implement IE policy more successfully.