NGOs call for equal education for children with disabilities

A poster by Save the Children. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wang Chao, the representative of Save the Children in China, said at a news conference on Wednesday that since many disabled children go to special schools they do not get the needed opportunities to mix with the mainstream society. The Inclusive Education project believes in the the philosophy of integrated education, as well as the right of disabled children to study in ordinary school with other kids.

"At present, China still has a large number of school-aged disabled children who are not getting the quality of compulsory education they need," said Xu Jiacheng, the secretary of the Chinese Society of Education Special Education Branch.

There's still a long way to go to achieve the goal of educational equality. Wang Xingxing, the manager of the Inclusive Education project, said that more than 30 percent of adults still use "the disabled" in a discriminatory way and about 80 percent of them have no idea of Inclusive Education.