Perspectives of Regular Peers Towards Children with Special Needs in Inclusive Schools: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

Despite numerous improvements over the last decade, millions of people still do not have access to the education that is rightfully theirs, and educational opportunities are still not evenly distributed. Approximately 40% of children lack access to education in a language they comprehend, and children with impairments persistently face a disproportionate level of exclusion from school (UNESCO, 2023). This inclusive approach is founded on the concept that every child possesses the ability to acquire knowledge and that each individual possesses unique abilities, requirements, and preferences for learning. Further, India’s National Education Policy 2020 developed one of the most powerful features in the education system which is the replacement of the classic 10+2 framework with the 5+3+3+4 education system. The middle stage is from classes 6 to 8. In this journey of inclusion for a child with special needs, there are many factors which impact, however, the most important of them is the attitude of children, teachers and parents towards inclusive education. The majority of the time children with special needs are surrounded by other children in the class thus, their attitude towards them plays an important role in the efficacy of inclusive education. Thus, the current study aims to assess the attitude of children studying in the middle stage of schools towards children with special needs. This study employed the Chedoke-McMaster Attitude towards Children with Handicaps (CATCH) scale to collect data from a sample of 530 middle-stage children (6th to 8th grades) selected using the purposive sampling approach from Tricity. The collected data is analysed using the SPSS software by calculating the descriptive analysis that is mean and median and T-test. The study found that the middle stage children have a positive attitude towards children with special needs with female children having a higher positive attitude concerning their counterparts.