Based on a new report by the China Youth and Children Research Center, around 30 percent of Chinese youth and children with disabilities have never experienced going to school.
Moreover, the total dropout rate among youth and children with disabilities remains very high.
According to a new report by the CYCRC, which deals mainly with the development and social demands of the country's youth and children with disabilities, only 70 percent of children with disabilities in China are attending school. Among these students, 73 percent are in regular schools, 21.4 percent are in special-education schools, while 3.3 percent are taking special classes within public schools.
The report also highlighted that majority of the students with disabilities only attain primary and middle school education. Only around 23 percent would continue on to obtain higher levels of education.
The issue of special children attaining their education cannot be emphasized enough. On Dec. 3, the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed, and the education problem among the youth was assessed based on the UN's post-2015 development agenda.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted the importance of the issue for the international community.
"Let us spare no effort in ensuring that policies, programs, guidelines and 21st-century technologies are accessible to persons with disabilities and that we do so in a manner that is sensitive to their perspectives and experiences," shared Ban Ki-moon.
Even though the Chinese government has always worked to ensure that persons with disabilities receive the care and attention they need and that violations to their rights would be prevented, this issue on education showed that more should be done. Ensuring that children and youth with disabilities receive the education they deserve can lead to better quality of life for them in the future.