CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCATION

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

National policy on Education (1997) defines special education as education of children and adults who have learning difficulty because of different sorts of handicaps such as blindness, partial sightedness, deafness, hardness of hearing, mental retardation, social maladjustments, physical handicap due to circumstances of birth, inheritance, social position, mental and physical  health pattern or accident in later life. As a result, few children and adults are unable to cope with the normal school class organization and methods. There are also the specially gifted children who are intellectually precocious and find themselves insufficiently challenged by the programme of the normal school and who may take to stubbornness and apathy, in resistance to it.

Adima (1989) in line with Abosi highlighted some of the curriculum content of the traditional form of special education some of these include lesson in art of fortune telling, cracking palm – nuts, art craft, preparation and raffia – palm for roofing houses, farming and many other practical skills for economic independence. There were training facilities forms where teachers which included parents, close relations and other members of the community were drawn to teach handicapped follows not as separate people, but as fully integrated part of the community.

By so doing, they reap the enviable advantages of mainstreaming as a system for educating the handicapped. The purpose of the traditional form of education enunciated by fafunwa (1982) also applied to the education of the handicapped functionalism was the guiding principle and people learnt by doing and observation. There was emphasis on social responsibility, job orientation, honesty, political participation, spiritual and moral valises.

Nwangwu (1982) pointed to the united Nation Universal Declaration of human right in 1948, which made some assertions about the right of every human being. The article one of the Declaration stated that all people are born free and equal in dignity and right. Article 26 of the Declaration stated that every one has the right to education which shall be free and compulsory at least at the primary school level. It is importance to note that this declaration was the fulcrum of all agitations for the right of all disabled as human beings.

In Nigeria, the “good Samaritan” acts of the voluntary agencies later touched the heart and conscience of the government. This might also have been reinforced by the United Nations Declaration of 1975. It was in 1975 that Rtd General Yakubu Gowon declared the interest of the government in the conditions of the handicapped. Following this closely was the National Policy on Education, 1977, which devoted a section to the education of the handicapped. The declaration of 1981 as the inter-national year of the disabled showed the height to which they are favoured in recent years. It is said that in a democratic world, every men could be a king, hence in planning and implementing programmes for the disabled, one sees the ultimate in democratic thinking and action (Barke 1960). It is significant to note that those position attitudes may not mean a problem free society for the disabled, but they are good signs for our generations.

Government has already directed that all children, including the gifted as well as those with physical, mental and learning difficulties, must be provided for under the educational system. The corollary of UBE therefore is that special education arrangements must be made for the handicapped and the exceptionally gifted.

As a result of providing the gifted, as well as those with physical, mental and learning difficulties into the educational system, we intend to have problems such as lack of professional trained teachers in the area of special education, a serious lack of basic equipments and vocational school which will serve as a place for further education of handicapped children and adults.

The researcher wants to find out students and teachers perception of problems militating against the implementation of special educational and the needs and implication of special education which is to provide adequate education for all children and adult especially handicapped and exceptionally gifted in order that they may fully play their roles in the development of the nation.

It is as a result of the above issues discussed that the researcher has been compelled to carry out a study on secondary school teachers and student perception of problems, needs and implication of special education and Ezeagu Local Government Area is taken as a case study.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A saying goes that prevention is better than cure, but an average person in Ezeagu Local Government Area is ignorant and unnerve of what special education is all about. Little is done to prevent the incidence of the various handicapping conditions.

Public enlightenment programmes should be mounted to create awareness on the possible causes, preventive measure right and needs of the handicapped. There should be guidance and counseling programmes for children, parents, the general public, in homes schools hospitals and public places, with emphasis on improved health care, genetic counseling, and balanced diet to the people of Ezeagu Local Government Area.

Operating any system without finance could be finistrating and leads to non-accomplishment of the goals (Akubue 1990). This is a situation in Ezeagu Local Government Area where the federal and state budgets for education in general and special education in particular is grossly inadequate.

The federal government declaration of full support for special education in 1975 was a bold step taken, with the anticipation of a buoyant economy that can fund all facets of special education, but the present periods of inflation economic recession and unfavourable terms of trade seem to negate this enviable gesture. Early identification that would involve members of the family is necessary for possible intervention on the handicap some of these when identified early enough could be remedied through surgery. Early identification is also necessary for educational placements.

There is also an unequal awareness and provision of education for the various types of handicapped person contrary to the purpose and objectives of special education as provided in the National Policy on Education.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study include

a.    To critically look into special Education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

b.    To identify the problems of special Education in view of finding solution to it in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

c.    To access the needs of special Education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

d.    To highlights the implication of special Education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

e.    To evaluate the perception of secondary school teachers and students of problems, needs and implication of special Education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 

This study will help to provide adequate education for all handicapped and exceptional gifted children and adult on Ezeagu Local Government Area, in order that they fully play their roles on the development of a state and a nation as a whole, as it is directed by the Government that all children including the gifted, as well as those with physical, mental and learning difficulties must be provide for under the educational system.

This study will also be of great value do the people of Ezeagu Local Government Area to see the possible problems, needs and implication of special education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

The colleagues of the researchers would also use this study as first in hand knowledge to carryout further research on a similar topic of study.

RESEARCH QUESTION

The researcher in the course of the study head drawn the following research questions.

a.   To what extent has the impact of special Education affected the lives of people with disability in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

b.   To what extent are the schools in Ezeagu Local Government Area equipped for special Education.

c.   To what extent has the effort of Government gone toward providing the needs of special education in Ezeagu Local Government Area.

d.   What is the attitude of teachers and students in Ezeagu Local Government Area, towards a handicapped.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Some of terms used in this study is define as follows:

Apathy –     The feeling of not being interested in or enthusiastic about                                                                                                                                                               any thing.

Disability – This refers to a loss of a part or a structure of the body.

Envy –        The feeling of wanting to be in the same situation as somebody else or the feeling of wanting something that some body else has.

Insufficient  –      Not large, strong or important enough for a particular purpose.

In–tervention –    The policy of practice of a government influencing the economy of its own country or of becoming involved in the affairs of other countries.

Mainstreaming – This is the integration, normalization or open education connoting that it accommodates children of all abilities and disabilities.

Maladjustment – Having mental and emotional problems that head to unacceptable behaviour.

Precocious –        Having development particular abilities and ways of  behaving at a much young age then usual.

Special Education –       This is education of children and adults who have learning difficulty because of different sorts of handicapped.