BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's central government is to invest 600
million yuan (about 78.9 million U.S. dollars) over the next three years to
build and expand 190 special schools for the handicapped, according to a program
issued by the Chinese authorities.
"About 450 million yuan will be used for construction of the schools and
150 million yuan on the purchasing and installing of teaching and rehabilitation
facilities," said the program, jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and
the National Development and Reform Commission.
The program said the schools will be built mainly in China's less
prosperous central and west areas, where more than 80 percent of the cities and
counties don't have educational access for disabled people.
A 2006 national survey showed that China has nearly 82.96 million disabled
people, among those about 3.87 million are aged under 14. However, the country
had only 1,605 special schools, with 140,000 students on campus, in 2006.
The program said China needs to build about 1,150 special schools in the
future so that all cities and counties with a population of more than 300,000 in
the central and west areas would have at least one special school for the
disabled.
