Children with disabilities a priority for education

2018-03-19
chinadaily.com.cn

Lu Yong, deputy director of the State Council Work Committee for the Disabled, answers media questions after the seventh plenary meeting of the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 19, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

China will use distance education and door-to-door teaching to bring compulsory education to the country’s 240,000 children with disabilities in remote and impoverished regions, according to a senior official.

Lu Yong, deputy director of the State Council Work Committee for the Disabled, said China is home to 1.68 million children with disabilities under the age of six, including 220,000 living in poverty.

Lu said the central government has taken “multiple measures” since 2012 to ensure their access to education, including unveiling a revised ordinance on special education and two upgraded plans on this front.

China also built a database for the group, adopting individualized education methods depending on their situations, he said.

Though much progress has been made and the majority is covered by compulsory education, the deputy director said “much remains to be done.”

According to Lu, the country still has some 240,000 children with disabilities who failed to access compulsory education, mainly due to their critical conditions or living in impoverished and remote areas.

“For such cases, we would consider methods including distance education or sending teachers to their homes. But the poor infrastructure in rural China brings difficulties. Therefore, we also call for more of the public to get involved,” he said.