Podcast: Story in the Story (10/11/2018 Thu.)
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From the People’s Daily app.

This is Story in the Story.

China is looking to improve special education as tens of thousands of disabled children lack access to proper schooling.

The Ministry of Education released this figure in a report of the national mid- and long-term educational reform and development guidelines (2010-2020) to help disabled people integrate into society.

Nearly 600 counties with populations below 300,000 in remote and ethnic minority areas do not have schools that provide special education. Furthermore, the number of disabled students joining regular schools is shrinking - preventing social integration.

China has about 2.46 million disabled children between ages six and 14. However, the number of special education teachers was only 48,125 last year since its associated with low social status and stagnant wages.

However, a new plan aims to have more than 95 percent of the country’s disabled student population receive compulsory education by 2020.

The plan states that district and county governments should confirm information of disabled school-age children and make sure they receive some form of compulsory education.

By 2020, at least one special education school should be set up in regions that have a population of more than 300,000 and a considerable number of disabled children.

The plan also guarantees more funding for disabled children and encourages nongovernment and nonprofit organizations to provide special education services to disabled people.

Recently the government raised basic financial support for primary and middle schools catering to disabled students to 6,000 yuan per child every year from 4,000 yuan, according to the Ministry of Education.

As part of a 2014 plan on special needs education, the government promised more investment, infrastructure, quality teachers, and a new curriculum.

Today’s Story in the Story will look at the personal stories of special needs students and their teachers.

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An autistic child of the Rehabilitation Center of the Disabled cheers after finishing a painting in an event to call on care for autistic children at Guangxi University of Nationalities in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 2, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua)

“My dream is to be a soldier safeguarding my country,” 13-year-old student Yongzhi said.

Due to a hereditary limb condition, he is unlikely to grow as tall as his peers.

Yongzhi is one of 18 disabled children at Anding Primary School in Jingdong Yi Autonomous County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. He was once scared of being mocked for his disability but is now more confident after enrolling in a photography class.

In 2016, Yongzhi learned he had been selected to join a photography class despite never having held a camera in his life.

Liu Yuyang, a freelance photographer who earned the Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellowship in 2014, said all children are entitled to look for the beauty of life, whether they are disadvantaged or not.

Liu works with Save the Children, an organization that has successfully piloted inclusive education programs in China for years, to use his expertise to help disabled children.

From January to September 2017, the 25-year-old photographer offered these students several photography sessions about photo exposure, composition, and other techniques.

Sometimes Liu would take his class to the countryside to practice shooting and lend cameras to students to let them express their artistic talents.

“The inclusive photography class was not designed solely for disabled children but shared with non-disabled children,” Liu said. “In the process, they learned how to participate and share. Sometimes the work could be done only by co-operation.”

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(Photo: CGTN)

Yongzhi surprised his teacher with his people-focused photographs – grandmas herding sheep, girls playing basketball, and fathers walking donkeys. His work shows a balance between motion and stillness.

Liu Wencai, who teaches Chinese to hearing-impaired students at Shijiazhuang Special Education School, is determined to help her students gain admission to college.

Liu said her lessons would sometimes get no response from her students, since many Chinese words cannot be expressed with sign language.

“It's hard because learning academic subjects for them is more difficult,” Liu said. “There's a lot of pressure for me because it's hard to communicate with the students, not to mention teaching them.”

So, Liu started drawing pictures to help her students understand the concepts she was teaching and is now seeing positive results.

“I am the happiest person when my students completely get what I am trying to teach,” Liu said. “I was eager to help and hope they can adapt to society and be as happy as any normal child.”

(Produced by Nancy Yan Xu, Raymond Mendoza, Lance Crayon, and Grace Song. Music by: bensound.com. Text from China Daily and Xinhua.)