[Editorial] A Happy Society Needs Educational For Handicapped

"We've been refused admittance to school for being handicapped, forced to transfer, and forced to sign humiliating written pledges saying we would accept responsibility for accidents that might take place when classes are held outdoors. It makes you cold and trembling to stand in a dark school hallway, in case something goes wrong, at the start of each new semester when my child meets new friends."

These are the things you hear if you go to the National Human Rights Commission's learning center, where handicapped children and their parents have been on a hunger strike for 34 days. They are talking about the reasons they are fighting for guarantees on their rights to education.

As of 2005 some 58,000 elementary and middle school students qualified for special education programs under the Special Education Promotion Act, but only 15,000 actually participated. Kindergartners and high school students were not included in that number. If you include them as well, only one in eight handicapped students is receiving official care. The legislation was enacted in 1977, but it has stayed largely the same for 30 years. On the one hand there are to be fewer students per class by 2007 – four for kindergarten (currently 4.38), six for elementary level (currently 6.55), six for middle school six (8.8) and seven for high school (9.74). The reality, however, is that that does not get even close to the goal. Many cities, counties, and neighborhood districts lack even a single special education class.

The best welfare for the handicapped is education and employment. They are right to demand free education from infancy through high school, treatment, and job training. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development says it agrees with the idea but lacks the money. That is something the government could fix if only it has the will. It could happen if related ministries such as the education ministry, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare were to come up with gradual goals and the basis for their justification. We know quite well that we cannot be a happy society if we allow the handicapped among us to spend their lives in poverty as well. Aiding in their job search would also contribute to the creation of "societal jobs," something the government continues to stress as being a necessity.

The Hankyoreh, 15 April 2006.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]