Abstract

The teaching learning strategy for visually impaired students, whether they should be taught in common classroom or in a separate classroom, is a debate in education. This is a narrative study related to that debate. The main objective of this study is to find out the suitable teaching- learning activities for visually impaired from the perception of such children and their teacher. The participant of this study was a visually impaired person who was selected using purposive sampling procedure. He had the study experience in a separate classroom and common classrooms both. He studied first two Grades in separate classrooms for visually impaired and Grade three to bachelor's level in common classrooms. After completing a bachelor's level in English, he has worked as a teacher for visually impaired children for four years and for all types of children for three years. This study is conducted in Panchthar district of eastern Nepal. One in- depth interview following by a series of short telephone interviews and observation were used as data collection techniques. It is concluded that special needs children should be taught in a separate classroom for learning of basic skills of reading and writing and then they must be taught in an inclusive classroom with other students for greater learning achievements. By managing the modern equipment of information communication technology for visually impaired children, the inclusive classroom can be used from the beginning of formal education.

Keywords:

Special needs children; separate classroom; common or inclusive classroom; visually impaired; braille.

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