Shameful Treatment of the Disabled From Public Educators

On the morning of April 14, the Association for the Disabled Education Rights (ADRE) announced at a press conference in front of the Sejong Center for Performing Art in Seoul that “since offices of education and general schools are rejecting disabled students from special classes and have discontinued many special classes, the educational rights of handicapped students are seriously being violated.

According to the ADRE, an office of education made a internal decision “prohibiting the organization of special classes consisting of less than four students” and has discontinued 35 special classes in this district since last year. Additionally, another office of education ordered last year’s teachers in charge of special classes to join general classes instead.

An elementary school in Anyangsi, Kyungkido, recommended a transfer to another school for a student in spite of the student’s parents’ application for a special education class, rather than organizing a special class for handicapped students.

A principal of another school, which offers a special class, recommended teachers in charge of the special class to transfer handicapped students, and ordered them not to take handicapped students on a school excursion without their parents.

University “D” rejected the entrance application of a handicapped student who was living with a guide dog to its dormitory, declaring that it feared disease, and it was reported that a professor at University “E” uttered harsh words to a handicapped student, saying, “Since you [are physically unable to] take an exam, you will substitute a report.”

“It is frustrating to see the violation of the disabled education rights, considering the disabled have the same right to education as the general public,” said Do Kyoung-man, a committee chairman of ADRE. “We will send an official letter to ask relevant offices of education and schools for correction of this.”

Yang-Hwan Jung ray@donga.com