Our special-needs kids need more support, Hong Kong parents and lawmaker urge government

Rally outside legislature calls for higher subsidies for city’s low-income families

NAOMI.NG@SCMP.COM

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 30 December, 2015, 2:39pm

UPDATED : Wednesday, 30 December, 2015, 3:06pm

Children with special education needs appeal for more policy support measures. Photo: Sam Tsang

More than a dozen parents of special-needs children gathered outside the legislature to call on the government to increase its support for underprivileged families.

“The government needs to stop shirking responsibility,” chanted parents and members of the Special Educational Needs Rights Association outside the Legislative Council building this morning.

The government’s subsidies for special education needs students from low-income families did not cover those over the age of six and forced parents to pay out of their own pockets for extra help after school, the association said.

READ MORE: Hong Kong teacher punished special needs pupils, some as young as 6, by spraying alcohol sanitiser in their faces

Chow Shuk-may, mother of an eight-year-old daughter afflicted with dyslexia, said: “Teachers have made few adjustments for my daughter who’s studying at a mainstream school. Every day she’s given at least eight to 10 items to finish, and sometimes she can’t even handle that.”

Chow said at least a third of her family’s monthly income went towards after-school tutorials to help her daughter with homework.

Civic Party lawmaker Kenneth Chan Ka-lok (left) expressed his support for the rallying parents. Photo: Nora TamRepresentatives of the association handed a letter outlining suggestions to improve existing policy to lawmaker Dr Kenneth Chan Ka-lok, who voiced his support.

“The government keeps saying they have done all they can to help [these] families, but from how I see it, they haven’t done enough at all,” said Chan.

READ MORE: Parents best teachers of special needs kids, programme’s Hong Kong founder says

The association said it hoped the government could distribute one-off subsidies to get help sooner from private educational assessment centres. It also hoped for increased transparency as to how funding for the students was used in mainstream schools.

The group’s representatives added that the wait for government assessment services was as long as two years, with many children missing the best window of opportunity to seek proper treatment.

There were more than 31,000 special-educational-needs pupils enrolled in the city’s mainstream primary and secondary schools, as part of the Education Bureau’s integrated policy. The schools received funds, curriculum support and teaching training from the bureau.

http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1896524/our-special-needs-kids-need-more-support-hong-kong-parents