|
Pilot Integration scheme for the disabled By Christine Au |
Courtesy of Samson Kwok |
|
Said Ms Eugenie Woo Yu Chun, senior specialist in educational psychology and special education: “We envision building up a system corresponding to the world trend — that is, to have more regular schools’ personnel capacity assisting children with diverse abilities.” Under the scheme, pupils with mild disabilities are received into ordinary schools in order to foster independence and to promote social acceptance of them. Two secondary and seven primary schools have participated in the scheme, offering a total of 46 school places. Each of these schools is entitled to receive subsidies such as extra teachers, psychologists and non-recurrent grants. Mrs. Chung Ng Sui-fong, a parent of a slow learning child, strongly supported the spirit of the scheme. She said, “With normal students as classmates, handicapped children experience greater stimulation and possess greater motivation to learn. “Though they may find the curriculum difficult, it is worthwhile if they can develop a positive self-esteem and treat themselves with higher dignity.” Mrs. Chung is also a member of the Parents of Pre-School Handicapped Children under the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and the chairperson of the Tai Hang Tung Parent Resources Centre of the Heep Hung Society for Handicapped Children. She is, however, discontented with certain aspects of the project. “There are schools that have long been willing to receive pupils with disabilities. “Yet, the Education Department did not try to contact them, reducing the number of prospective vacancies available,” she said. In face of the above criticism, Ms Woo said the project is experimental in nature at this stage. “As a pilot scheme, the sample size should be moderately small. After two years of practice, the project will be put under thorough evaluation. If there is a genuine demand, the scheme can be widened,” said she. Mrs. Chung said, “We have submitted a list of more than 100 students who are eager to join the scheme to the Education Department. However, none of them was given the chance of assessment. The criteria behind choosing those 46 students are still a mystery to us.” Ms Woo retorted by saying that their first priority is to satisfy “identified needs”: “We had not promoted the scheme prior to launching it. “At the age of 5, every child diagnosed as handicapped will be reassessed to see what kind of primary schools they need. Hence, we have a detailed record of children on hand. “We then tried to choose students who can fulfil the basic requirements while living nearby to participating schools,” Ms Woo said. The Hong Kong Chinese Women’s Club Fung Yiu King Memorial Secondary School is one of the participants in the scheme. The principal, Mr. Hui Wing Ho, said, “In the tragic hill fire of 1996, five to six of our pupils were severely burnt. After they returned to school, we had already started to adopt an integration approach.” Mr. Ho said the pilot project was initiated at almost the same time, giving them “no reason not to participate in this scheme”. “By now, six of our Form 2 students are under the scheme. We have maintained close contact with their parents, eliciting their wants and worries. Constant meetings with resource teachers and the Education Department are held, too. “Indeed, such a scheme can also provide an invaluable lesson to able-bodied students. Rather than indoctrinating them through serious assembly lectures, correct moral behaviour and interpersonal attitude can be learnt through day-to-day interactions with disabled children. “I can witness students becoming more mature, helpful and understanding,” said Mr. Ho. Mr. Lee Pak Ban, principal of Srbce Psa Ho Sau Ki School (AM), another participant, described the implementation of the scheme as “successful”. The relationship between handicapped students and others was claimed to be good. At present, there are 68 special schools catering the need for 8,542 students. Most of these schools only offer courses up to Secondary 5, laying barriers to students’ further education. As Chinese is used as the medium of instruction in all of these schools, it is hard for disabled students to catch up after changing schools. |
Teacher-student ties
January 1998
[Editorial] [Letters] [Answer] [News] [Social] [Photo] [Culture] [Education] [Channels] [Science] [Celebrity]
Comments Editor-in-Chief Electronic Editor