Obstacles to the Implementation of Inclusive Education in Ethiopia's Dawro Zone Primary Schools

This study investigated the obstacles to the implementation of inclusive education in Ethiopia's Dawro zone primary schools. To this effect, the study used a qualitative research approach’s phenomenological design. The number of respondents was eighteen. Based on their active participation in inclusive education practices, three teachers, three school principals, three cluster supervisors, three district education experts, three children with special educational needs, and three typical peers were chosen by using a purposive sample technique. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were used in the study to gather data. The data were analyzed through verbatim and narrative description. The findings revealed that all participant primary schools are engaged in implementing inclusive education; however, its implementation is poor. On the other hand, despite their initial reservations about the education of students with special needs, school principals, cluster supervisors, teachers, and students all had good attitudes about the implementation of inclusive education. Based on the findings, it was recommended that in the participant primary schools, there is a need to improve the skills of general classroom teachers through different training modalities to handle and support heterogeneous groups in inclusive classrooms.