2. Segregation versus Inclusion
The provision of appropriate educational needs for children with special disabilities has long been a common issue in
education. Arguments and debates have been raised in line with the right policies on how to educate children with
special educational needs (SEN). According to Jenkinson (1997), children with disabilities are traditionally educated in
segregated classrooms, specifically designed to cater to the students' certain incapacities. Educators find this segregation
system beneficial, as they are able to apply curriculum formulated specifically for special children. Likewise, children
with disabilities benefit from this system not only because of the appropriate curriculum, but also the thought of
attending classes with classmates having the same disabilities enhances their confidence or self-esteem as well.
Furthermore, being segregated assures the security and sufficient support special children need.
However, in an article written by Dunn (1968), the segregation of special children involves many issues of concern,
which were generalized into four main points of argument including the students' academic achievement, the
detrimental effects of labeling associated with placement outside the mainstream, the racial imbalance in special
education, and recent advances in individually paced curricula which would make it possible to accommodate students
with disabilities in the regular class. Furthermore, several educators have argued that exposing children into ordinary
education settings will be the most effective means of equipping children into better self-supportive adults in the future
(Jenkinson, 1997). The students are not the only ones affected by the segregation system. Teachers or educators are also
isolated through this kind of setting. Being isolated, their teaching competencies become limited as well. Considering
the significance of this point, educators have suggested to integrate the special needs student into normal education
settings (Smith, 1998).
Indeed, the topic regarding the integration of students with special educational needs into ordinary schools has been a
common argument. This key educational issue has recently introduced the term inclusion that exemplifies a whole range
of ideas about the meaning and purpose of school (Kliewer, 1998).
Inclusion involves the reorganization of ordinary schools, in such a way that every mainstream school is capable of
accommodating every student regardless of their disabilities, making it certain that each learner belongs to a single