The influence of the provision of appropriate human resource skills on retaining disabled pupils in mainstreamed primary schools

Abstract

This study sought to establish the influence of the provision of appropriate human resource skills on the retention of disabled pupils in mainstreamed primary schools in Bomet County, Kenya. This research was embedded in Systems Theory by Bertalanffy. The study adopted a survey research design. The target population consisted of 840 teachers. Yamane formula was used to obtain a sample size of 271 teachers. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used. After collecting, coding and analysing the raw data, the study revealed that the provision of appropriate human resource skills significantly influenced the retention of pupils with disabilities by 25.3 per cent. The findings showed that there was strong evidence of a statistically and positive significant relationship between appropriate human resource skills and retention of pupils with disabilities (r = 0.866**; p < 0.05). It was concluded that the majority of teachers lacked professional skills in teaching special needs education, which directly affects the retention of pupils with disabilities (PWDs). The study recommended that in-service training should be conducted for all regular teachers to enhance knowledge, skills and attitude toward special needs education.