Help students with special needs succeed in Hong Kong universities
Alfred C. M. Chan is encouraged by the increase in funding for this minority group, but says a more holistic approach is needed to help them meet their still considerable challenges
Does the name Lung Wai-hin ring a bell? She was the girl who appeared in a memorable TV commercial more than a decade ago that uplifted the spirits of people in Hong Kong in the midst of the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic. Her cheerful face and “happy dance” are still at the back of many minds today.
Lung is also remembered for her inspiring story. She lost her sight as a baby due to a tumour in her retina but never grew despondent. She studied at Hong Kong’s Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired before her family moved to the US when she was 10. There, she graduated from high school with a full GPA score and went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in English, played goalball, a sport for the visually impaired, and was active in the Disabled Students Union.
I wonder what would have happened to her had her parents not moved to the US. Would she have been able to get into university, or would she have ended up like some of her peers in Hong Kong, who at best could only finish secondary education and secure positions like telephone operators?
Despite the availability of more opportunities in higher education, the number of tertiary students with special educational needs remains low. In fact, in a 2012 report on China, including Hong Kong, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said it was “troubled” by the low number of students with disabilities in tertiary education, which it said was “due to the lack of a coherent education policy”.
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Though still low, the number of students with special needs has increased. In 2011, 532 were enrolled in full-time locally accredited undergraduate degree and sub-degree programmes; the figure went up to 1,061 in 2015. Education Bureau data also shows that, between 2008 and 2015, the number of special needs students in public primary and secondary schools more than doubled, from 17,560 to 39,470.