Inclusive and Special Education Policy in Nepal: Reality, Rhetoric and Contradiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigated inclusive and special education policy in Nepal. This paper employs social constructionism and discourse analysis as theoretical perspectives. This study is informed by the findings of the author’s doctoral research. Data were collected from a selected key policy document between 1970 and 2020. Discourses of disability was used as a methodology to examine how these policies construct the meaning of disability and inclusive education. The findings of this study demonstrated that Nepalese inclusive and special education policies have been influenced by the medical or deficit and social or human rights model discourse of disability. This article identified that the educational policies of Nepal were consistent and in variation between these two discourses of disability. This study found that inclusive education policies had rhetoric, contradictions and tensions within the policy documents. Limitations and recommendations of this research were also discussed.