Attitude of Elementary School Teachers towards Inclusive Education with Special Reference to Gangtok District, Sikkim

Attitude of Elementary School Teachers towards Inclusive Education with Special Reference to Gangtok District, Sikkim Dr. Kriti Gurung Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Sikkim Government College Namchi, Sikkim, IndiaAbstract The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 makes inclusive education central, aiming for equitable access for all learners, especially Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs). This strongly demands transformation in all aspects of education. First and foremost change that needs to be is the change in the attitudes of the stakeholders of education which always goes at the background. The researcher strongly believed that no meaningful change in the education system can be achieved without the active role of teachers. Hence, the present study aimed to understand the level of attitude of elementary school teachers towards inclusive education. The present study is a descriptive survey research. The study was conducted on a sample of 160 elementary school teachers from government and private schools in Gangtok district of Sikkim, using the Teacher Attitude Scale towards Inclusive Education developed by Vishal Sood and Arati Anand (2011). The results show that most of respondents demonstrated an above average favourable attitude towards inclusive education. The study also highlighted that both female and male teachers share similar attitudes towards inclusive education with t(158)=0.872, p>0.05. However, a significant difference was observed between government and private teachers t(158)=2.92, p<0.05), with government teachers leaning more towards a most favourable attitude.