The Special Education and The Modern Long Distance Education in China
2 min readSpecial Education
The Chinese government has all along paid great attention to special education.
With the initiation of the reform and opening policies in 1978，China’s special education entered a new development period.The state has issued a series of laws and regulations which make explicit stipulations on safeguarding the rights to education of the disabled，formulated a series of both general and specific policies for reforming and developing the sphere of special education，while earmarking special funds for this purpose.According to statistics，China has 1 426 special education schools for blind，deaf and mentally retarded children and teenagers，and some 5 400 special education classes attached to ordinary middle schools，with a total of 320 000 students.In addition，a large number of disabled children and teenagers study in ordinary schools.Currently，more than 1700 rehabilitation institutions for deaf infants are operating in China，and over 70 000 children have been or are being trained there.Furthermore，there are more than 1000 vocational training institutions for the disabled in China.
Modern Long Distance Education
In 1998，the Ministry of Education approved an experiment in modern long-distance education at Tsinghua University，Zhejiang University，Hunan University and Beijing Posts and Telecommunications University.In 1999 and early 2000，the experiment was expanded to three other schools-Beijing University，Central Radio and Television University and China Accounting Correspondence School run by the Ministry of Finance.In 1999，the former four universities，the first group approved for theexperiment，enrolled more than 900 students，who were taught through the Internet，and the Central Radio and Television University enrolled 40000 students.
Through two years of experiment，the schools have formed a teaching model via the Internet，anddeveloped a group of related courses and resources，which played an important role in promoting the experiment.Besides，the Ministry of Education has started the Program of Training Tomorrow’s Female Teachers，to train female teachers in primary and middle schools and support education in poor and western areas.To develop modern long-distance education and frame a lifelong educational system the ministry has earmarked special funds for the Plan for Promoting 2lst Century Education to promote the development of the Cernet trunk network.Now the 155M experimental line of Cernet connecting Beijing with Shanghai and Wuhan，and Wuhan with Guangzhou is in operation.
