1. Background

Who likes to be a Special Child and receive Special Needs Education? There may be as many answers to this question as there are special children. Being a child is a very personal matter; this is no less true for the special child. For most of us, childhood seems a wondrous and mysterious phenomenon of human experience, a time of growth, a time of learning and unlimited potential, a time of fantasy and play, and a time of living in one’s mind. For some, childhood also can be a time of frustration, a time of confinement, and a time of disappointment. For special children, the latter can be often the case.

Special children are those who are significantly different from other children in some important dimensions of human functioning or special children are those for whom the presence of physical, psychological, cognitive, or social factors makes the realization of their needs and full potential difficult. For these children, skilled interventions and special care are needed in order to help them develop their potential. This version encompasses the deaf, the blind, the speech impaired, the crippled, the mentally retarded, the emotionally disturbed, and so on. Even gifted children with high IQs must be recognized as special because skilled intervention by trained professionals might be required in order for them to develop to their fullest potential. Thus education is provided by a specially trained teacher with the use of appropriate facilities, specialized methods, and materials, thereby redemptions are special education.

2. Special Education in the Universe

Before the second half of the 18^th century, the disabled throughout Europe were socially neglected and dealt with inhumanity. But during the spread of Christianity, they were protected and pitied. But in Nepal, long before Christianity, both Hindu epics and Buddhist literature had given significant emphasis on social welfare activities. Ancient Hindu texts such as Manu Smriti, Sukra Niti, Narad Smriti, and Yagyavalkya Smiriti preached the lesson of welfare and good. The construction of Pakshalas and Dharmashalas to provide food and shelter to travelers and the disabled are examples of the social service provided in Nepal in the past. The publication of Diderot’s Letter on the Blind in 1745 gave impetus to the education of the blind. The incidence of St. Ovid’s Fait in Paris in 1771 inspired Valentine Hauy to experiment on a 14-year-old blind beggar Francois Lesueur and this was the formal beginning of education for the disabled. Louis Braille, who was blind himself, gave perfection to Barbier’s intervention of embossed point print in six embossed dots, that could be used in different combinations to represent the letters.

3. Special Education in Nepal

The formal beginning of the education for the disabled (blind) in Nepal goes back to 1964 with the opening of a blind section in a laboratory School in Kathmandu with the initiation of Lloyd Stevens, an American Peace Corps volunteer.

4. Faculty Profile

Master Program

1. Four Semester Master of Education (M.Ed.)

Four Semester Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Special Needs Education (SNE), a new academic program started in March 2015, is designed to produce high-level human resources in Special Needs/Inclusive education field required for governmental and non-governmental organizations and universities. Especially, the graduates of this program will work as teacher educators to teach SNE courses at the Bachelor's level on different campuses and as experts at different agencies under the Ministry of Education, and national and international non-governmental organizations.

This program was started jointly at the Central Department of Education, Kirtipur by the Faculty of Education, Tribhuvan University /Nepal, and the Changwon National University/South Korea under the Leading University Project for International Cooperation (LUPIC). The project provided technical as well as financial support to develop courses and run the academic programs for four years. A concerted effort was made to develop SNE courses in several stages. Now, Project have handed over the program to the university, hence Tribhuvan University has sole responsibility to run the program.

Entry Requirement

Graduates who have a Bachelor of Education Degree from TU or an equivalent degree from a recognized higher education institution in any subject can apply for M.Ed. in Special Needs/Inclusive Education.

Entrance Test

The examination Section of the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Education will develop and administer the entrance test. The test includes items related to professional education courses and special needs education.

Structure of Semester-based Two Year Master of Inclusive Education (MIE) Program

M.Ed. in MIE consists of 69 credit hours. Its course structure is given in Table 1.

Table 1: Course Structure and Number of Courses in Each Semester

Professional/Core Courses

The professional/core courses to be offered in four semesters are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: List of Core Courses

The aforementioned courses on Special Needs Education are being replaced by a new course named Master of Inclusive Education (MIE). Unlike the old SNE courses, inclusive perspectives are given to the new courses in Master of Inclusive Education. The structure of the new course has been approved by the Subject Committee of Special Needs Education and some of the courses of fourth semester are yet to approve by the Faculty Board of Tribhuvan University. The first, second, and third semester courses are being implemented and fourth semester courses will be implemented from the fall semester of 2024. Hence, all the new MIE courses will be gradually implemented. The proposed new structure of the MIE course is given below:

Table 4: New Course Structure                               (Duration of the Course: Four Semesters)

Master of Inclusive Education (MIE)

 First Semester Courses

Second Semester Courses

 Third Semester Courses: (It consists of three groups of courses; students can choose any one of the groups)

Group A: Sensory and Motor Impairment

Group B: Developmental Disabilities

Group C: Learning, Communication, and Language

Note: Students can choose any one group of courses from the third semester

IV. Semester Four: Elective Courses, Practicum and Thesis