The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training held a meeting on October 2 to launch special education tasks for the 2014-2015 academic year, with more support to be given to children with disabilities and development disorders. Nguyen Thanh Tam, Director of the city’s rehabilitation and education centre for children with disabilities, said a number of activities have been undertaken to integrate the group into the community over the past years. The centre has coordinated with hospitals to send doctors to local nurseries in order to detect children with special needs, while schools of special education have organized refresher courses to improve the capacity of their teaching staff, he added. However, representatives of some special schools said they are not well connected with authorized agencies in giving early detections and diagnoses of disabilities, and current facilities are insufficient and unsuitable for special education. Additionally, textbooks designed for primary students with disabilities have not yet been issued, causing many difficulties for the teaching, the meeting heard. Nguyen Tien Dat, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training, said the sector will increase support for the target children by applying different therapies and giving professional training to teachers and education officials. It will build more special schools and equip existing ones with appropriate facilities, he added. (vietnamplus.vn Oct 2)
