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Special Education

EDUCATION

The provision of special education continued to develop in line with the objectives of the White Paper on Rehabilitation published in 1977 and the subsequent annual reviews of the Rehabilitation Programme Plan. Over 17 000 special places for handicapped children were provided in 1985.

(There are 71 special schools providing over 8 000 places for the more severely handicap- ped, including the blind, the deaf, the physically handicapped, the mentally handicapped, the maladjusted and the socially deprived. Residential places are also provided in the boarding sections of 14 special schools. In addition, there are 334 special education classes in ordinary schools providing over 9'000 places for the partially sighted, the partially hearing, and children with learning difficulties.)

Intensive remedial services are also provided by the Special Education Section of the Education Department for children with learning difficulties and adjustment problems in ordinary classes. These services include remedial support outside school hours in resource teaching centres and adjustment units, a peripatetic teaching service in ordinary schools. during school hours, and advisory services to schools.

Screening and assessment services are provided to identify special educational needs among school children so that remedial action could be taken as early as possible. Primary 2 pupils are screened under the Combined Screening Programme which comprises speech, hearing and vision screening and group testing. Pupils requiring further assessment are given audiological, speech or psychological assessment while those in need of remedial services such as speech and auditory training, speech therapy and counselling are given such services at the Special Education Services Centres.

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An earmould laboratory and a braille printing unit are run in one of the Special Education Services Centres. The former provides earmoulds to hearing-impaired pupils while the latter provides braille textbooks for blind pupils.

Two-year part-time in-service courses of training for teachers of children with special educational needs are operated by the Sir Robert Black College of Education. Short courses, seminars, workshops as well as refresher courses are held frequently by the Education Department to enhance professional knowledge of staff in the special educa- tion field.

Post-Secondary Education

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There are two approved post-secondary colleges - the Hong Kong Shue Yan College and Lingnan College - registered under the Post Secondary Colleges Ordinance. The Hong Kong Shue Yan College, registered in 1976, has three faculties arts, social science and business, and 13 departments offering day and evening courses with a total enrolment of 3 490 students. It operates a four-year diploma programme without receiving government financial assistance. Lingnan College, registered in October 1978, has three faculties – arts and business and social science, and an enrolment of 1 299 students. It offers two-year Form 6 courses and a two-year post-Form 6 higher diploma course, for which it receives government financial assistance. It also offers a fifth year end-on course leading to an honours diploma for students who complete successfully the higher diploma course.

Students of the two-year post-Form 6 courses at Lingnan College are eligible to apply for grants and loans, the maximum levels for which were revised to $3,400 and $4,100 per annum respectively in the 1985-6 academic year. Loans up to a maximum of $7,500 per annum were available to students in the further one-year post-Form 6 course at Lingnan College and to students in the four-year course at Shue Yan College.