The Plight of Inclusive Education in Cultural Diversity through the Arrival of the Girmitiyas

The Girmityas played an important role and worked tirelessly to build Fiji’s early colonial economy. Despite most Girmitiyas coming from impoverished backgrounds and not having a formal education themselves, they knew the value of education and where possible, strived to ensure their children received education despite having impairments. Inclusive education (IE) is founded on the belief that all students, regardless of learning background, deficiencies, or individual characteristics, have equal rights in learning settings. Students with special education needs and those with typical development both demand inclusive education. Inclusive education has become a global movement to teach all children, including those with special needs, in regular classrooms. Today, IE also includes students who are excluded, discriminated against, underprivileged, and all other pupils. This presentation deals with research to assess teachers' perspectives and behaviours about inclusive education for students coming from the diverse cultural background and providing solutions to challenges encountered by educators. The study was conducted using a qualitative research technique and a case study design. The participants of this study were 50 volunteer primary in-service schoolteachers from western Fiji. A descriptive analysis approach was used to examine the data. According to the findings of this research, instructors had a lack of conceptual clarity on the definition of inclusive education, and most of them focused on the basic principle of inclusivity, while only a few sought to tie inclusiveness to instructional techniques. Furthermore, the findings revealed that teachers did not engage in activities aimed at implementing inclusive education in their classrooms and that they had different expectations from the Ministry of Education, school administrations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and parents. According to the survey results, most instructors considered themselves moderately qualified for inclusive education methods, while others considered themselves incompetent. The results offer those such as the Ministry of Education a direction in organising in-service that includes training from expert teams; improving school physical conditions to meet the needs of diverse student groups with different interests, abilities, and disadvantages; re looking at the ways to include the lives of Girmitiyas and increasing school-family cooperation.