Seoul City vows to build more schools for disabled
Seoul City’s education office vowed Wednesday to build three more special schools for the disabled by 2019 to improve the education infrastructure.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would establish two schools for those with intellectual disabilities in the eastern and western capital, and one school in Gangnam for those with physical disabilities.
If successfully built, they will be the first of such schools established in the city since 2003. As of this year, a total of 29 special education schools are running in Seoul.
This is part of medium-term support measures for the disabled, with the country marking its 36th Disabled Persons Day on Wednesday, officials said.
Members of the civic group Korean Parents’ Network for People with Disabilities urge the city government to draw up support measures for children with developmental disabilities at Seoul City Hall, on Monday. (Yonhap)Concerns, however, remain over potential opposition from neighborhood residents.
Previous plans to build a job training center and two schools for the disabled had hit a snag due to opposition from vocal residents who claimed the facilities would hurt their communities’ image and effect real estate prices.
“Many people still view special schools as ‘unpleasant institutions.’ Selecting the location for the schools will be most crucial. Unless the office successfully determines the region and deals with the communities’ opposition, it will be tough to build schools,” said Kim Chi-hun, the disability policy and research director of the Korean Parents’ Network for People with Disabilities.
The office said it would discuss available sites for the schools with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Of some 13,000 disabled students in the city, 35 percent attend special schools while the rest go to general schools.
Due to scarcity of the schools, out of some 4,600 disabled students, about 42 percent spend on average about 30 minutes to one hour commuting to school, according to the survey by the education office. Of those surveyed, 3 percent said their commute time was about one to two hours on average.
Overcrowded classrooms are also another hurdle for the disabled.
Most of the special schools in the city are overcrowded, with an overpopulation rate exceeding 150 percent in some schools.
By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would establish two schools for those with intellectual disabilities in the eastern and western capital, and one school in Gangnam for those with physical disabilities.
If successfully built, they will be the first of such schools established in the city since 2003. As of this year, a total of 29 special education schools are running in Seoul.
This is part of medium-term support measures for the disabled, with the country marking its 36th Disabled Persons Day on Wednesday, officials said.
Previous plans to build a job training center and two schools for the disabled had hit a snag due to opposition from vocal residents who claimed the facilities would hurt their communities’ image and effect real estate prices.
“Many people still view special schools as ‘unpleasant institutions.’ Selecting the location for the schools will be most crucial. Unless the office successfully determines the region and deals with the communities’ opposition, it will be tough to build schools,” said Kim Chi-hun, the disability policy and research director of the Korean Parents’ Network for People with Disabilities.
The office said it would discuss available sites for the schools with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
Of some 13,000 disabled students in the city, 35 percent attend special schools while the rest go to general schools.
Due to scarcity of the schools, out of some 4,600 disabled students, about 42 percent spend on average about 30 minutes to one hour commuting to school, according to the survey by the education office. Of those surveyed, 3 percent said their commute time was about one to two hours on average.
Overcrowded classrooms are also another hurdle for the disabled.
Most of the special schools in the city are overcrowded, with an overpopulation rate exceeding 150 percent in some schools.
By Lee Hyun-jeong (rene@heraldcorp.com)
(责任编辑:行业动态)
相关内容
- Best tablet deals as of August 27
- China bans ICOs for being full of fraud and pyramid schemes
- 尝一口,尽是地道汕尾味丨舌尖上的汕尾·果蔬篇
- 'Orange Is the New Black' will end in 2019
- The Weird, Wonderful World of Water Towers
- If aliens harnessed solar power, could we detect them? NASA investigated.
- Elon Musk is wrong about AI
- Activitiy at N. Korea's Punggye
- Pakistani social media star Qandeel Baloch was a revolutionary.
- I Deleted All My Social Accounts: Three Weeks Without Social Media
- N. Korea unresponsive to regular contact via inter
- Moon’s security adviser to hold 3
- 从化岭丰糯荔枝,全国银奖!
推荐文章
-
12 Sculptures Made From Recycled Materials
Most trash is destined for some forlorn landfill or recycling center, but when it finds its way into ...[详细] -
Alexa and Cortana will now be able to talk to each other to control your smart home
Two of the biggest tech companies on the planet, Microsoft and Amazon, have decided to allow their d ...[详细] -
华创公司:坚持绿色发展,创建新会区陈皮庄园|第六届新会陈皮文化节⑯_南方+_南方plus小青柑茶、陈皮糖、陈皮花生......在江门市新会区大融城举行的第六届陈皮文化节上,江门市新会区华创柑橘庄园有限 ...[详细]
-
S. Korea, US warn of 'overwhelming, decisive' response to any N. Korean nuclear attack
Korea's vice defense and foreign ministers - Shin Beom-chul, right, and Cho Hyun-dong, second from r ...[详细] -
Most of you are no doubt familiar with Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, IBM, Texas Instruments, and possibly ev ...[详细]
-
N. Korea fires 2 ballistic missiles into East Sea: S. Korean military
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at Seoul Railwa ...[详细] -
In a world of screens, it's easy to forget that we actually live on a lush green planet filled with ...[详细]
-
Moon’s security adviser to hold 3
President Moon Jae-in’s top security adviser is expected to arrive in Washington on Tuesday for thre ...[详细] -
Black Friday GPU Buying Guide: November GPU Pricing Update
There's a lot to discuss in this month's GPU pricing update with some updates regarding Nvidia's upc ...[详细] -
[Feature] Korea urged to pay conscripts better
Army conscripts sing a marching song at a basic training graduation ceremony in the southwestern cit ...[详细]
热点阅读