Law, Politics and Humanities

H ong Kong needs rights-based law and policies of inclusive education. The chairwoman and rapporteur of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child were in town last week. They were invited by local NGO the Hong Kong Committee on Children's Rights to meet the people and investigate the city, before they returned to Geneva to consider the government's report in September. In their meeting with the special educational needs (SEN) and disabled communities, Hong Kong's problematic integrated education policy was raised again. The city's so-called integrated education policy is ill-conceived and ineffective, having evolved from a welfare and administrative framework dating back to the industrial age. The world is moving towards a rights-based approach to inclusive education and Hong Kong's policies do not match today's idea of human rights. Article 28 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires state parties to recognise the child's right to e...

T he Legislative Council subcommittee on Integrated Education has been holding a series of meetings on the difficulties in integrating pupils with special educational needs (SEN) into mainstream education. Public views have been invited. SEN pupils are those who have needs and disabilities that affect their ability to learn. Inclusive education is a rising global trend. Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that education be directed to the development of the child's personality and abilities to their fullest potential. Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees the substantive right to inclusive education and requires signatories to implement inclusive education system at all levels. During the past 15 years or so, the government has taken steps to mainstream SEN pupils under the banner of integrated education. However, the policy has often been criticised as ill-conceived, half-hearted and inefficacious. There a...