Opinion | Amid Covid-19 challenges, Hong Kong’s special needs children require more support

Name: Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing
Uploaded: 2022-03-26T22:45:20.000Z
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing

Closures of schools and education centres have hit SEN children and their families hard, exacerbating their mental health challenges and exposing how neglected their needs were even in ordinary times

Reading Time:3 minutes

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Virtual learning and support simply cannot replicate the benefits of face-to-face interaction. Photo: Shutterstock

Rita Ku

Published: 6:45am, 27 Mar 2022

Across the globe, the pandemic has affected children and their welfare in profound ways. While the full extent of the impact is yet to be understood, the detrimental effects on the vulnerable, especially children with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities have surfaced.

During these extraordinary times with attention and resources focused on the fight against the coronavirus, their needs are often neglected by the broader community.

But even in ordinary circumstances, families with special needs children routinely encounter challenges in obtaining adequate resources and support subsidised by the government or through social initiatives.

For instance, the Special Needs Trust Office, first set up in 2018 by the Hong Kong government to help manage the estates of deceased parents to meet the long-term daily needs of special needs children, features a narrow eligibility criterion.

In practice, many special needs children are unable to benefit from good-natured initiatives, and unfortunately are still subject to the uncertainties brought forward by the pandemic.

03:30

Covid-19: Hong Kong to open schools, lift flight ban, cut quarantine time and suspend mass testing

A recent study in Turkey found that a staggering 94.6 per cent of families with special needs children were negatively affected by Covid-19. In Hong Kong, the closure of schools and special needs education centres have deprived SEN children of their social activities with peers and opportunities for dedicated support and treatment.

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