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(xiii) 436 additional places at vocational
training centres to be provided for the
disabled by 1980;
(xiv) the responsibility for the education of
all mentally retarded children to be
transferred from the Social Welfare
Department to the Education Department
as soon as practicable;
(xv)
child guidance and peripatetic teaching
services, speech therapy services and
psychiatric services to be improved.
1977 White Paper : Integrating the Disabled into the Community A United Effort
*18.
The 1977 White Paper took into account public reaction to
the 1976 Green Paper in setting out the government's proposals for
the further development of rehabilitation services up to 1985-86.
These proposals were to be implemented as quickly as possible; and
the objectives and targets listed in the White Paper, the progress
of implementation and the adoption of other proposals put forward
by the public in their comments on the Green Paner would be reviewed
annually with effect from 1978.
19.
In so far as special education and training was concerned,
the White Paper noted that in April 1977, 12,165 special education
places were available for students with disabilities, made up of
3,805 places in special schools, 4,095 places in special classes in
ordinary schools, 3,840 places in resource classes in ordinary schools,
and 425 places in hospital schools. In addition there were 1,756
places at children's training centres and 732 places at prevocational
and vocational training centres run by the Social Welfare Department
or by voluntary organisations. A comparison between existing foreseeable
demand and the planned supply of school places indicated that sufficient
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