Teachers have to face children with many kinds of disabilities, which complicates their teaching, said Prof. Deng Meng of the Beijing Normal University.
China has about 2.46 million disabled children aged between six and 14. However, the number of teachers specializing in education for the disabled was only 48,125 last year.
Low social status and poor pay have exacerbated the shortage of teachers, with fewer college students majoring in special education.
What is worse, allowances for these teachers have not been changed in 59 years.
Deng said China should learn from the experience of developed nations, which requires all teachers master special education knowledge, adding that Hong Kong asks 10 percent of its teachers to learn special education.
SOCIAL INTEGRATION
Shangxiejie Primary School in Beijing's Xicheng District is among the first batch of Chinese schools to receive disabled children. It currently has 16 students with hearing impairment, mental disabilities or autism. It has another 25 students with physical disabilities.
"Individual plans have been drawn on each student with special requirements," said the headmaster Han Jianli.
Since the end of 1980s, learning with peers in regular classes has played an important role in spreading special education. However, the benefits have not been fully recognized by society.
In 2012, parents at a primary school in the southern city of Shenzhen signed a petition asking an autistic student to leave the school, causing controversy.
"Some autistic children cannot follow the teaching in a regular class, putting more pressure on teachers," said Yu Wen, the principal of a Beijing special education school.
He said teachers are often puzzled when faced with students experiencing screaming fits or showing aggressive behavior.
Experts suggest local special education centers provide support to special students in regular classes in order to achieve educational, social and psychological integration.
According to the education ministry's plan, regular schools will have special facilities to assist the study and life of disabled students; regular schools will be provided with more special funds dedicated to services for disabled students; disabled students will have "duo student registrations" on both regular and special schools so as to integrate with their ordinary peers.
