Abstract:
Inclusive education is a process of adjusting the home, school and the larger community to accommodate
persons with special needs. In respect to pre-school learners, it is a means by which centers accommodate all
learners regardless of their physical, intellectual, social, emotional, linguistic challenges. UNICEF notes that
some 150 million children with disabilities lack access to child care services, schools, recreation and other social
services, and are likely to remain illiterate and untrained, ultimately unable to join the labor force. Children with
special needs are still perceived negatively by society. Most of the learners with special needs do not enroll in
pre-school centers in Nyamira North Sub-county and if enrolled, they drop out before the year ends as per the
report from Education Office.
The study aimed at finding out whether availability of teaching and learning resources influenced
implementation of inclusive education in pre-school Centers in Nyamira North sub-county. Efforts have been
made to integrate the learners with special needs although the programme has encountered a lot of challenges;
policies have been put in place to provide for the achievement of universal education and the realization of
vision 2030. However, Inclusive education experiences a pyramid of challenges at pre- school level in the world
and Kenya. The study employed descriptive survey research design. The target population was 134 head teachers
in 134 pre-school centers, 402 pre-school teachers, 12 Education officers and 938 pre-school parents in
Nyamira North Sub-county. Sample size was 40 pre-school centers and 40 head teachers which were randomly
sampled to represent 30% of the centers. Further, 134 pre- school teachers and 270 pre-school parents were
sampled through stratified random sampling and 12 Education Officers sampled by census sampling. Data was
collected using questionnaires and observation checklists. Descriptive statistics of means, percentages and
weighted averages was used in analyzing the data. Findings revealed that there were inadequate teaching and
learning resources at pre-school centers in Nyamira North sub-county. 78 percent of the respondents revealed
that inadequate resources affected the implementation of inclusive education. The study recommends that
adequate teaching and learning resources should be provided to ensure effective implementation of inclusive
education and more funds to be allocated for procuring teaching and learning materials for Special Needs
Education (SNE) learners.
