ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN INCLUSIVE AND SPECIAL SCHOOLS IN NORTH CENTRAL GEO-POLITICAL ZONE, NIGERIA

In the olden days people perceive education of children with disabilities in special schools as the best system of realizing their educational goals; but with current researchers revealed that this system deprives them from exploring their academic performances. Therefore this study was carried out to ascertain, if the academic achievement of children with disabilities from inclusive setting are better than those from special schools, and if the psychosocial behaviour of children in special school affect their academic performance and their social roles more than those in inclusive settings. Three research questions were formulated into three null hypotheses. The study used survey design conducted in the six geo-political states including the federal capital. One hundred and forty subjects were used by means of simple random sampling techniques from inclusive and special schools. Structured questionnaire was used in the study; validation and reliability of the instrument were tested in the sample schools. Three hypotheses were analyzed using descriptive analysis and three null hypotheses were tested, at 0.05 level of significance, t - test of statistic was used as the statistic techniques in this study. The findings revealed that there is significant difference in the academic achievement of children in special schools and those in inclusive settings. This was in favour of those in special schools. Based on these findings recommendations were made that, government of all tiers shoidd provide funds and employment more supportive staff in inclusive setting for better result