Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of inclusive education
resource centers in promoting inclusion of children with disabilities in Jimma zone
Oromia Regional State. A mixed –method research approach with concurrent design
nested strategy was employed. Six IERC’s were selected through purposeful sampling
technique. The data were collected from one Woreda SNE expert, one Zonal SNE expert,
two city administrations SNE expert, six SNE teachers, six, itinerant teachers& six school
principals were selected through purposive sampling techniques and regular teachers
(n=109) and Students with Disabilities (n=100) were selected through simple random
sampling techniques. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically and quantitative data
analyzed through descriptive statistics methods. Finally, the results were presented based
on the FDRE Ministry of Education guideline for establishing and managing inclusive
education resource centers (IERCs) to determine how the IERCs contribute promoting
inclusion of CWDs. The findings shows that lack of sufficient budget, shortage of human
power in subject wise, lack of clear monitoring and managing system, both positive
attitudes towards IE and areas where needs improvements Finally, the researcher
recommended that governments should budgeting enough budget, offering sufficient
trained manpower in subject wise, spreading out monitoring and evaluation system.
