The study investigated the challenges of implementing inclusive education of children with visual impairment in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The design of the study is descriptive survey design. The population of the study was all the 80 teachers of children with visual impairment in the 4 centres in Port Harcourt. The simple random sampling technique was used to draw 25% of the population as the sample for the study. A self-designed instrument titled Challenges of Implementing Inclusive Education Scale (CIIES) was used for the study. The cronbach alpha reliability estimate was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. The general reliability of CIIES is given at .92, Social Factors Subscale (SFS) .935, Economic Factors Subscale (EFS) .91 and Emotional Factors Subscale (EFS) .87. Three research questions were answered. Mean and standard deviation were used for the data analysis. It was found out among others that the social factors that may challenge effective implementation of inclusive education are: negative attitude of the society towards these students, unadoptable school environment and language/ communication barriers. More so, the economic factors are: inadequate funding, inadequate number of personnel, inadequate training for personnel and inadequate funding to purchase the necessary technological materials, while emotional factors are discrimination against children with visual impairment, lack of awareness of the special needs of children with visual impairment, marginalization of children with visual impairment. The following recommendations were made among others; the school administrators should take social activities like co-curricular activities very seriously in the schools; that the school administrators should endeavour to meet parents, host community and non-governmental functionaries like Tetfund and oil companies for financial assistance.
Keywords: Inclusive Education, Visual Impairment, emotional factors, social factors
