China launches plan to boost special education

China will promote the development and enhancement of special education during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), according to an action plan unveiled in a document issued by the General Office of the State Council on Jan 25.

The plan aims to initially establish a high-quality special education system by 2025, with the enrollment rate of school-age children with disabilities in compulsory education reaching 97 percent.

To improve the special education system, the plan urged expanding services across different age groups. More children with special needs should have access to compulsory education, with eligible special schools encouraged in county-level administrative areas with a population of more than 200,000.

Alongside compulsory education, preschool education and senior secondary education mainly serving vocational purposes also should be boosted, according to the plan, through efforts to encourage regular kindergartens, secondary vocational schools and high schools to accommodate children and teenagers with special needs to learn in regular classrooms.

Boosting the quality of special education requires greater integration with general education, vocational education, as well as medical rehabilitation and information technology, it added.

The plan further stressed enhancing educational infrastructure, recruiting professional teachers, and improving the funding mechanism for special education, with the average subsidy from public expenses increased to over 7,000 yuan ($1,106) each year for each student in compulsory education by 2025.