A class for children with disabilities at the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Supporting Inclusive Education Development for People with Disabilities.
Special education in Ho Chi Minh City still faces many difficulties, especially in staffing and facilities. Therefore, focusing on improving the quality of special schools, building a professional network in districts to provide regular training for teachers, and having a common regulation on education for people with disabilities for schools so that units can operate effectively… are important solutions to ensure schooling for children with disabilities.
According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Supporting Inclusive Education Development for People with Disabilities, in the 2014 – 2015 school year, the city had 27 special schools admitting nearly 3,000 pupils with disabilities and nearly 5,000 pupils studying inclusively in schools across the city, giving children with disabilities the skills they need for study and daily life. So far, seven districts still have no public special school. Private special schools still face many difficulties with funding and teaching aids. The facilities of special schools are still cramped, lacking playgrounds and outdoor play equipment. Inclusive schools lack rooms for children with disabilities to do individual activities. In districts without a special school, parents of children with disabilities have to keep their children at home or take them to distant districts to ask for a place…
According to Dr. Phan Thieu Xuan Giang, a visiting lecturer in developmental neuropsychology and psychopathology at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City, children with disabilities need far more investment in education than other children, so special schools for children with disabilities need their own facilities, especially separate entrances and toilets… Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Tam, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Centre for Supporting Inclusive Education Development for People with Disabilities, said that most special schools for children with disabilities struggle to equip themselves with learning materials, toys and books, and to recruit teachers, health workers and carers… Many schools have to make use of old classrooms as places to teach children with disabilities. For example, Hy Vong Special School (District 8) was formerly a house left by a local resident, only 216 m2 in size, so the rooftop is used as a sports ground, a reading room and a place to teach life skills. And at Thao Dien Special School (District 2), whenever the tide rises, the schoolyard is flooded, but there is no funding to raise the ground and keep the water out… Also according to Director Nguyen Thanh Tam, staffing at schools is also very short, causing no small difficulty for special schools that want to open more classrooms to admit children. The teaching staff at special schools do not yet meet the required ratio of 1.5 teachers per class. The shortage of teachers is partly because the number of children with disabilities increases every year; on the other hand, teachers’ professional qualifications are uneven, as most of them transferred from kindergartens and were then standardised. Every year, about 40 students graduate in special education from the Faculty of Special Education at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, but recruiting them to supplement schools is also very difficult. The main reason is that most of these students come from other localities to study in the city, and being recruited involves the rather complicated issue of household registration.
According to experts, the city’s special education has so far developed in breadth but not in depth, and quality has not met requirements. Nguyen Thanh Tam, Director of the city Centre for Supporting Inclusive Education Development for People with Disabilities, proposed focusing on improving the quality of special schools and building a professional network in districts to provide regular training for teachers. Above all, there should be a common regulation on education for people with disabilities for schools, to help units operate.
In the 2015-2016 school year, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will continue to advise on building centres to support inclusive education development in the seven districts without a special school (Districts 4, 7 and 9, Nha Be, Hoc Mon, Thu Duc and Binh Thanh). At the same time, it will organise thematic workshops on inclusive education at local education departments to support and remove difficulties in teaching, and build advanced inclusive education models at all levels of education…
THAI KHUE http://www.nhandan.org.vn/