CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION IN KAZAKHSTAN: A CRITICAL REFLECTION ON POLICY IM-PLEMENTATION AT A MAINSTREAM SCHOOL

Abstract

After ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as part of its “Future without Barriers” initiative (2015), Kazakh-stan implemented inclusive education by aiming to make most of its schools inclusive (Allan & Omarova, 2021). The historical context of education in Kazakh-stan, particularly during the Soviet era, involved stigma-tizing students with special needs in separate institu-tions, influencing societal perceptions and creating bar-riers to inclusive education (Rollan, 2021). In this paper I will critically review the application of the inclusive education policy in practice in one of the mainstream school in Astana city.