Abstract
There are many out of school children that have no access to education in Northeast Zone, Nigeria. This study aimed at investigation the challenges faced by out of school children with special needs in Yola, Michika, Ganye, Bauchi, Bogoto, Katagun, Maiduguri, Biu and Mante local government area of Adamawa, Bauchi and Borno States Northeast Zone Nigeria. Four research questions guided the study. A phenomenological design was used, 225 stakeholders and out of school children were purposively sampled. Questionnaire and oral interview were used for data collection, while data generated was analysed and findings were discussed. The study revealed that 5,058 are the prevalence numbers of out of school children with special needs in the above-mentioned local government area of Adamawa, Bauchi and Borno State, furthermore, insurgency, poverty and financial constrain, limited access to inclusive education, policies, framework, community advocacy are among the barriers that lead to the challenges faced by out of school children with special needs. The study recommended the full policies implementation, offer alternative accessibility to inclusive school, allocating more finding to special education program, awareness campaign and Forster collaboration among schools, parents, government, NGOs and community leaders to provide support services to avert the challenges faced by out of school children in Northeast State Zone, Nigeria.