TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ........................................................................................................................ i
APPROVAL .............................................................................................................................. ii
DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... iii
AK.NOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... v
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... viii
CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................... 9
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 9
3.0. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 9
3 .1. Research Design ................................................................................................................. 9
3.2. Organization of the study ................................................................................................... 9
3.2.1. Study area ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.2.2 Study population ............................................................................................................... 9
3.2.3. Sample size ...................................................................................................................... 9
3.2.4. Sampling technique ......................................................................................................... 9
3 .3. Data collection .................................................................................................................. 10
3.3.2 Reliability of instruments ............................................................................................... 10
3.4. Data collection procedure ................................................................................................. 10
3.5. Data analysis ..................................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTERFOUR ................................................................................................................... 12
PRESENTATION, INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS ........... 12
4.0 ............................................................................................................................ Introduction 12
4.1 ........................................................................ Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 12
4.1.1 Sex of Respondents ........................................................................................................ 12
4.2 The Attitudes of the community to the retarded People .................................................... 13
4.2.1 Handicapped children are being ofno use to the society ............................................... 13
4.2.2 Handicapped people being hidden away from the society ............................................. 15
4.2.3 Parents not wasting money on handicapped children's school fees ............................... 17
V
Table VI: Response on whether Parents do not waste money on retarded
children's school fees ........................................................................... 1 7
4.3 Community Tolerance and Acceptance of the handicapped children ............................... 18
4.3. 1 Handicapped children people being integrated in all the normal routine of all the
society ...................................................................................................................................... 18
4.3.2 Handicapped children are helped when ever possible during the course of their
studies at school ....................................................................................................................... 19
4.3.4 Pupils who are handicapped children are not mistreated at school by their fellow
normal students ........................................................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER FIVE ..................................................................................................................... 21
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................... 21
5.0lntroduction ........................................................................................................................ 21
5.1 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 21
5.2Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 21
5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 22
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................ 23
APPENDIX I: TRANSMIT AL LETTER ............................................................................... 25
APPENDIX II: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS ......................................................... 26
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of cultural beliefs and practices towards the education of handicapped children in Nyeri South District, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the Attitudes of the community to the Mentally retarded People in Municipality North zone, to determine the Community Tolerance and Acceptance of the Mentally Disabled Persons in Municipality North zone; and to show how the problems of cultural beliefs and practices of the community towards the mentally disabled persons can be over come. The methods used for data collection was questionnaires and interview gnides to teachers and head teachers of the schools involved in the study. In chapter four, the findings were presented and interpreted in relation to the study objectives and research questions. While linking to the existing literature, results included demographic characteristics, frequency and percentages. Based on the findings it was observed that the community had a negative attitude towards the education of the mentally retarded children due to their cnltural beliefs, the communities Torrance towards the mentally retarded children was not there. In chapter five, development of solutions to the problem, summary of the findings and conclusions were attempted. The findings suggested recommendations that in the education of students with disabilities a law is needed to provide and enforce services for this population. Without laws and national mandates, and ways for ensuring that schools abide by these laws, many students with disabilities are likely to be locked out of the educational arena. Development of a transition-based service provision model is vital especially for students with severe mental retardation