Inclusive education for students with sensory disabilities in Ghana: views of students with disabilities about availability of resources in regular schools

Abstract

Purpose Inclusive education is a “revolutionary” educational concept which seeks to promote the participation of all students in the teaching and learning process. Although several countries have revised their education system to promote the learning of all students in the same classroom, there are persistent barriers to effective inclusive practices. Within this discourse, there is a scarcity of studies focussing solely on students’ perspectives on resource availability. Due to the sizeable population of students with sensory disabilities in Ghana, this study sought to understand the perspectives of students with hearing (n = 74) and visual (n = 41) impairments on resource availability in regular schools. Materials and methods A total of 115 students with sensory disabilities were recruited from one special and two regular schools in Ghana using the Perceived Resources Questionnaire. The data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and subjected to t-tests, one and two-way independent analyses of variances and direct logical regressions. Results While the students were slightly positive about the availability of resources, there were differences between them in terms of disability type, gender and grade. Conclusion We discuss the need for policymakers to engage other stakeholders to expedite the supply of resources to regular schools to support inclusive practices. Implications for rehabilitation The importance of resources to facilitating inclusive practices cannot be overemphasised. The perspectives of students with disabilities about availability of resources in schools is unreported. Students with sensory disabilities were slightly positive about availability of resources in regular schools. There were differences between students with sensory disabilities who participated in this study.