Accessing basic education service for disadvantaged groups: Research on the children with disabilities in Hanoi

The education is a social service for human beings and it is seen as a fundamental human right. However, for the disadvantaged groups in society, include children with disabilities, the accessing education services (whether public or private) is a significant challenge. This article addresses the difficulties faced by children with disabilities in accessing basic education services and the satisfaction of children and their caregivers about the educational services they received. The results of this study suggest a number of solutions to promote learning motivation for this children group. The identification of accessibility constraints for children with disabilities and their caregivers is examined by the open-questionnaire (Likert scale) for children that have enrolled in the education system. The results also show that some of the difficulties identified when the children accessing education services are such as: the supports from school (including: the attitudes of manager, teachers and classmates), the costs for education, the curriculum and timetable of the school, the level of awareness of the child with disabilities.

ACCESSING BASIC EDUCATION SERVICE FOR

DISADVANTAGED GROUPS: RESEARCH ON THE CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN HANOI

Le Thi Hoai Thu MA

thulh112180@gmail.com Institute for Economic Informatics Technology - National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Pham Thi Thu Ha MA

Hand in Hand - Special education center for children with disabilities Hanoi, Vietnam

Abtract

The education is a social service for human beings and it is seen as a fundamental human right However, for the disadvantaged groups in society, include children with disabilities, the accessing education services (whether public or private) is a significant challenge This article addresses the difficulties faced by children with disabilities in accessing basic education services and the satisfaction of children and their caregivers about the educational services they received The results of this study suggest a number of solutions to promote learning motivation for this children group The identification of accessibility constraints for children with disabilities and their caregivers is examined by the open-questionnaire (Likert scale) for children that have enrolled in the education system The results also show that some of the difficulties identified when the children accessing education services are such as: the supports from school (including: the attitudes of manager, teachers and classmates), the costs for education, the curriculum and timetable of the school, the level of awareness of the child with disabilities

Key words: Basic Education Service, Children with Disabilities, Hanoi

1 Introduction

Social services are a range of public services provided by the government, private, and non-profit organizations These public services aim to create more effective organizations, build stronger communities, and promote equality and opportunity Social services include the benefits and facilities such as education, food subsidies, health care, police, fire service, job training and subsidized housing, adoption, community management, policy research, and lobbying

Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 of the United Nations in Article 26

states: “Everyone has the right to education Education shall be free, at least in the

elementary and fundamental stages Elementary education shall be compulsory Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit‖

Although education is a form of social service, the learners are not considered as clients in Vietnam It is clear that the quality and effectiveness of education services haven‘t meet the legitimate needs of the people as well as the development requirements of society, specially the education for children with disabilities

According to the Population Information and Data Center in 2010, there are an estimated 5.1 million people with disabilities in Viet Nam, accounting for 6% of the population, including 1.1 million people with severe disabilities (21.5% of the total number

of people with disabilities) The incidence of mobility impairments was 29%, mental disability - 17%, visual impairment - 14%, hearing impairment - 9%, language impairment

- 7%, intellectual disability - 7% and 17% of other forms of disability This is a group of population that could become a hindrance to social development if the government doesn‘t have appropriate social policies, especially educational policies According to a report by the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Welfare, Vietnam has about 1.4 million children with special circumstances, including children with disabilities While progress has been made in policies related to children and disability, the focus is often on adults whose needs differ from those of children For children with disabilities, some of them have to learn in specialized schools or lives in government social protection centers A large number of them are enrolled in public schools with normal children (This type is known by another name, inclusive education) Reality, this group of children is tending to increase in the community for a few recently years Although the Government and Ministry of Education and Training have made significant efforts in promoting policies and programs to support inclusive education for children with disabilities, however, from the perspective of the children themselves to integrate, as well as their family has many obstacles Specifically, little is known about the educational services these children are receiving What is the prevalence of children with disabilities? How many attend regular classes and how many attend special education classes? For what kind of conditions do they need special services? What percentages are receiving the educational services they need? What are the perceived barriers to obtaining these services?

Reliable, comprehensive data about children with disabilities and their families are needed to highlight the extent of their needs in order to better understand and support appropriate decisions and actions In this article, we offer the barriers that the children with disabilities met when they attend inclusive education in public schools

Inclusive education is a contentious term that lacks a tight conceptual focus, which

may contribute to some misconception and confused practice In relation to students with disability, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) first stated in 1994 that inclusive schools were the most effective way to counter discriminatory approaches and attitudes towards students According to UNESCO (2009) ―… an ‗inclusive‘ education system can only be created if ordinary schools become more inclusive – in other words, if they become better at educating all children in their communities (p 8)‖ Article 24 of the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises that education should be accessible ―… without discrimination and

on the basis of equal opportunity… within an inclusive education system at all levels…‖ It

is widely acknowledged, nonetheless, that children with disability continue to experience different forms of exclusion which vary depending upon their disability, domicile, and the culture or class to which they belong (UNICEF, 2013) Inclusion in education is recognised as a basic human right and the foundation for a more just and equal society (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2012)

Many research have established the role of inclusive education in the learning outcomes of students with disabilities (Larry G Daniel, Debra A King, Mark A Lamport

et al; Evins, Allison E) When included in the regular classroom, the children with disabilities who are special needs students have the opportunity to see their peers working habits, and they can model those habits and behaviors to reflect their own This insight ties into the Freudian theory of identification through observation of learned behavior from the peers around them Students with special needs can learn not only desired behaviors from their peers through social interaction, they can also learn academically within their learning community Children can be the best teachers Cooperative learning involves social interaction amongst the students, and it is the key to educational thinkers such as Piaget and Vygotsky (Slavin, 2009)

The literature also show the factors that influence the effectiveness of inclusive learning For example, teacher's prepare; Teacher's perspective, the social attitude, the peer students, (Mark A Lamport et al, 2012) Wagner, et al (2006) reported that general educators believe that they are not trained to effectively manage the challenging behaviors

of disability students, therefore making them apprehensive about having these students in their classes Furthermore, Sawka and colleagues research has found that there continues to

be high turnover rates for teachers of disability students; therefore leaving the students with disability at greater risk of poor academic outcomes and constantly having to adjust to new teachers Sawka et al (2002) in their study found that response cost was one intervention to decrease negative behavior and encourage positive behavior in students with disability

In Vietnam, since the early 1990s, the Government of Vietnam has developed policies to ensure that children with disabilities have access to education This issue is addressed in the National Plan "Inclusive Education to 2015" with the goal of providing inclusive education for all children with disabilities by 2015 To address international and regional commitments As well as achieving the goal of inclusive education, Vietnam has built a solid legal framework at many levels Ensuring equal rights and access to education for children with disabilities is reflected in many legal documents of Vietnam such as the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1946; The constitutions of

1959, 1980 and 1992 all regulate the protection of civil rights, prohibiting all discrimination and abuse In addition, the Laws have separate regulations for each chapter, item or some things reserved for people with disabilities in terms of policies, solutions and help and care Vietnam also has a legal document system that deals with the rights of children with disabilities and access to education

In fact, more than 10 years of inclusive education in Vietnam and world-wide educational experiences have proven to be very effective for children with disabilities: Eliminate complex emotions, increase communication, develop independence and learn more (ĐàoThị Vân Anh, 2005) With inclusive education, children with disabilities are learning in a normal environment, the school are near by home There is no separation from them to their parents, brother or sister in their family Students with disabilities learn the same program with the age-group others The curriculum and teaching methods will be adjusted to suit the needs and abilities of the students It will stimulate the interest in learning and developing the ability

of these students However, Dao Thi Van Anh (2005) shown that the difficulties when practicing inclusive education Some of them are (1) Some management and teachers are not fully aware of the importance and long-term benefits for children with disabilities when they attend in the inclusive class; (2) Children with disabilities often have differences behavior which are not be understand and share by teachers and classmates; (3) Very few teachers are teaching inclusive class that have been trained in inclusive education

2 Method

This study used three methodologies: a desk study of the official policy documents

on education for children with disabilities; A surveys of the children with disabilities and their caregivers; and An in-depth interviews with the experts on inclusived education In total, 8 teachers (include specialized teachers and regular ones) and educational managers from the inclusive school (covering three districts in Hanoi: Ha Dong, Thanh Xuan, Hai Ba Trung) have been interviewed, using semi-structured questionnaires These interviews, combined with a survey with disability children and their caregivers (i.e father, mother, or grandparents), were conducted from September, 2016 to January, 2017

To get a further and more quantitative insight into the implementation inclusive education for children with disabilities, a survey were conducted in Ha Dong, Hai Ba Trung and Thanh Xuan districts This survey covered 15 randomly selected the children and their caregivers in some iclusive schools The second survey was conducted online

150 questionnaires were sent via email, and 68 responses have just been received Finally,

47 responses by online and 15 answerer face to face from the first survey were used to

analyze the results of the survey All the questions are using 5 Scales Likert Type (5= fully

agree; 1= fully disagree)

3 Results and discussion

When children with disabilities begin to participate in inclusive education, the inclusive school are the first place that a child and her family will interacts The support of components from inclusive schools (such as teachers, managers, classmates) will impact school choice and academic success of children with disabilities as they learn with non-disability children In addition, the material condition of school also affects the integration of children

The headmaster‟s support

The support of the principal is the first factor affecting the success of children with disabilities when they attend integration schools The headmaster have not only a good

awareness about inclusive education but also have a thorough understanding of the implementation process in this field He have to knows how to incorporate the components

of the school into supporting the child with a disability

Students with special needs must receive regular support in the classroom and from professionals in disabilities Hence, the inclusive learning of disability children will be successful if the school managers (i.e principal) have flexible plans, diverse learning styles and rich funding sources The headmaster must supervise all activities, promote positive attiatude in the school The principal is the man who organize coordinated activities between teachers and parents, teachers and another ones (Đào Thị Vân Anh, 2005)

Figure 1 The headmaster’s support for the inclusive lerning

(Source: 2016 Survey Results)

Our survey in 2016, found that many families of children with disabilities had to pay an unofficial fee for being admitted to the school This is an obstacle for children with disabilities to access educational services (The median of this item's responses are quite high).A Unofficial fees increase the cost of studing for children with disabilities in school

In addition, school principals are not happy when they agree to let children with disabilities attend their school Children with disabilities often have different behaviors, which can sometimes be dangerous for their peers or for themselves These threat can explain to the afraid attitude of school principal Through the evidences from previous students, the principals have a warning about the threat that the children with disabilities can meet at school The admission procedures are full instruction and public

The teacher‟s support

Oliver and Reschly (2010) provide information on teacher organization and reparation in the classroom The article states that special education teachers as well as general education teachers are not adequately prepared to manage students with behavior disorders in the classroom Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD) or Severely Emotional Disorders (SED) have behaviors that inhibit them academically as well

as socially The EBD student oftentimes cannot or does not know how to control these

―acting out‖ behaviors Moreover, they are frequently too disruptive in the general

children

Principal introduces students with disabilities who have previously studied

Full instructions on admission procedures

Headmaster's support

education classroom and must be separated from their peers Conversely, the law states that students with disabilities must be educated in the same classrooms as their nondisabled peers (Circular 39) The teachers were not trained to provide accommodations or modifications to adhere to this mandate Students were mainstreamed, even though few teachers were adequately trained in an academicsetting to provide for the needs of students with disabilities

Le Tien Thanh, 2011, shows that on average, nearly 800 teachers are officially trained in inclusive education for children with disabilities at pedagogic schools Over 20,000 preschool, elementary and junior high school teachers are provided with knowledge and skills to teach children with disabilities Many researchers, managers, and teachers receive special education in developing countries around the world It is forecasted that in the coming years, the number of schools and teachers for children with disabilities will increase further as the number of children with developmental disorders is increasing At the same time, there are more children with developmental disorders in Vietnam today (such as autism spectrum disorders, other mental disorders) According to data from the Department of Rehabilitation (National Hospital for Paediatrics), in 2000 the number of autistic children increased by 122% compared to the previous year and in 2007 the number

of children with autism increased to 268%

Table 1 Statistics and forecasts for the number of schools, children and special

education teachers in preschool schools up to 2020

General Disability

Special teacher (2.91%)

1 2010-2011 12.908 3.599.663 124.908 211.225 38.724

2 2011-2012 13.172 3.873.445 134.409 229.724 39.516

3 2012-2013 13.548 4.148.356 143.948 244.478 40.644

4 2013-2014 13.942 4.465.290 154.946 251.592 43.749

5 2014-2015 14.348 4.806.439 166.783 258.914 47.092

6 2016-2018 15.637 5.994.383 208.005 282.181 58.731

7 2019-2020 16.561 6.945.313 241.002 298.843 68.048

(Source: [3],[4])

The teachers directly manage inclusive teaching, so they clearly understand the needs and abilities of each child with disabilities in order to develop a appropriate educational goal for each child When tracking the development of each child with disabilities, teachers can adjust their goals, content and teaching methods more appropriately The teacher is also a person who directly coordinates the families of children with disabilities to community members in order to implement the objective of inclusive education well In the classroom, teachers design relationships between students with disabilities and their peer by teams and groups pupils in oder to create a friendly environment in which both students are encouraged to develope

Figure 1 The teacher’s support for the inclusive students

(Source: 2016 Survey Results)

Although survey results show that discrimination isn't significational, but the student with disabilities didn't receive the interest from their teachers The teacher rarely praise small effort of the child If the teacher didn't ignore the children's presence in classroom then their learning outcomes had been assessed same as other students without disabilities Some teachers said that they let the students with disabilities sitting in class in oder to comply with the support policy of the State In fact, the learning of these children was not the teacher's interest In some case, these children could do anything they want and did not learn anything in class This situation is not real good for the children with disabilities These students also didn't improve their abilities when they entrolled the public educational services

The classmate‟s support

The most important goal of inclusive education is to allow children with disabilities

go with their peer friendship and integrate with community Thus, student groups in schools play an important role in supporting students with disabilities The support of the peer students in classroom or in school is not only reflected by their support of the disability children's awareness, but also be reflected by the eating activities and collective activities in school Survey results show that just a few children with disabilities have a group of closed friends in the classroom (18.8%) Some children have difficulties in making friendship, especially who with language disorders, autism,… Some of them played alone (15.6%) Many children have been discriminated against by classmates (43.75%) The disability students have many difficulties in language or in communication Hence, they need the friendly inclusive environment in which the peer students must feel familiar with their differences Therefrom, the classmates will help the student with disabilities better

Discrimination against

children with

disabilities

Ignore the presence of children in the classroom

talking with disabled children

Praise any small effort

of the child

Teacher's support

Figure 1 The classmates‘support for the inclusive students (Source: 2016 Survey Results)

In recent years, the Vietnam Ministry of Education and government agencies have made a great effort in communicating awareness of supporting for children with disabilities

in school This has effected on the attitude of non - disabilities students in classes where children with disabilities attended The issues that related to stigma and ridiculing of children with disabilities have decreased significantly Nowaday, the peer student are more open with disability ones They could play together in school However, the children who get disorders have feel difficult to take part the game with their peer Many of them often play alone in school Some of them have been stigmatized at school (3,0)

The policy support of government

The curriculum at public schools is now unified over the country It is managed by the Ministry of Education and Training At non-public schools, although the content is a bit different, the curiculum still has to follow the Ministry of Education framework Studying the same curriculum with peers in the inclusive school is both an opportunity for children with disabilities to ensure their right of education and at the same time puts pressure on them, especially children with mental disorders A fulltime studying at school also creates great pressure for children with disabilities, especially those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism Most of their parents are eager to have a more flexible learning schedule for these children

The Vietnam Government has made great efforts to reduce the barriers for people with disabilities to integrate into the community Vietnam has signed the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Viet Nam commited to implement seven priority field in the "Biwako Millennium Action Framework towards an inclusive, non-obstructive society for the rights of persons with disabilities," in the Asia-Pacific region The National Plan of Action for national education, 2003-2015, made the opportunities for all people to equal access to quality education, especial for all children The legal systems that deal with people with disabilities include: the Constitution of Vietnam; Ordinance on Persons with

2.0000

3.8125

I have been

bullied by

schoolmates

I have been stigmatized at school

Playing alone

at school

My classmates invited me to participate in the games

play with my friends on the playground during the play time

have a group

of close friends in my class

the classmates's support

Disabilities 1998; Educational Law 2005; Disability Law 2010, All of them are completed and publicated

The Ministry of Education and Training also issued Decision No 23/2006 / QD-BGDDT on Inclusive Education for People with Disabilities; Circular No 39/2009/TT-BGDDT on inclusive education for disadvantaged children; Education Plan for Children with Disabilities 2007-2010 and Vision 2015 The State has a policy of policy on social allowance and tuition fee exemption, reduction fee for people with disabilities who haven't dot enough money There is no discrimination against persons with disabilities in admission to schools just by their disabilities People with disabilities are provided with the tools and materials to support their learning appropriatly (Nguyen Van Nam, 2015)

The support from children themselves and their family

This section adressed the support factors belong to childrend and their families, such as the level of disability; the ability of children with disabilities; the ability to pay for the educational cost of the child's family; Awareness of families on inclusive education for children with disabilities

The capacity of children with disabilities The capacity is specific ability of an

entity (person or organization) or resource that meets the requirements of a particular activity The capacity is the condition for achieving that outcome Each activity requires a kind of capacity appropriatly and these capacities are closely related In general, there are 8 types of capacities: Communication / Language, Logic and Mathematical Thinking, Image, Painting, Space, Music, Inner, Interactive, Social, sport, natural sciences For children with disabilities, the capacity is special abilities, some of them may have some outstanding ability In inclusive education, researchers focus on the classification of abilities that are needed for a child with a disability to learn well in a typical school Depending on the level

of disability they may exhibit differently, such as language/communication ability, cognitive ability, social relationships According to our survey, most children with disabilities (from median to severe level) can not enrolled in inclusive education system (either public or private)

The ability to pay for the educational cost of the child's family The ability to pay

for costs when children with disabilities participate in social services also affects the success of children According to our survey, 2016, more than 60% of children are enrolled

in public elementary schools while attending classes that supplement cognitive, social and communication skills at special school This shows that the families of children with disabilities have to pay the same education fees as other children and pay for the costs of learning other skills too in order to keep up with their classmates These costs have made the total cost of education for each child much higher than for children without disabilities, accounting for 20-30% of total household income

Awareness of the children families The families' awareness of inclusive education

for children with disabilities get an important role in accessing children's educational services When the child's family aware correctly and gets a positive attitude towards

inclusive education, they will be ready to find any solution for their childs' access to educational services On the other hand, if the families are poorly aware of inclusive education, they may not be able to properly assess the role of inclusive education (which they may consider unnecessary or impossible) Therefore, children do not have access to education services or children are accepted into the school but do not have the desired results Most families with disability children now expect their children have access to social services, especially educational services According to the 2016 survey, this expectation does not depend on the parents' educational background Eventhough the parents have low education, they still want their children to have access to educational services like as other children without disabilities

4 Conclusion

The previous researchs and our survey results shown that: the barriers to accessing educational services for children with disabilities are not just derived from the disabilities themselves They are influenced by external factors such as the attitude of educational manager, teachers, and the school community Although inclusion methods benefit all students, both of principals and teachers are still hesitant to volunteer to teach within this specific method The study has shown that the children with disabilities have a lot of difficulties to access educational services

It is necessary that students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders in inclusive classrooms learn to effectively manage negative behaviors so that classrooms are environments of learning for all students For inclusion to be successful, it is important to provide educators with training, planning time with their co-teacher, and adequate resources to meet the needs of students It is when teachers are fully prepared that the inclusion model will yield positive results In clusive classes, both disabled and non-disabled students view co-teaching in a positive manner and seem to make progress in academic classes So, the support from the peer students also could effected significational

to disability students These factors, along with supporting policies from the State, could lead to the success of children with disabilities in accessing education services It is the reason of the effort to reduce the difficulties in their inclusive learning Beside, some difficulties that come from external environment were identified in this research: the costs for education, the curriculum and timetable of the school, the level of awareness of the child with disabilities

Nowadays, the number of children with disabilities that participate in the education system is increasing Future researchs may focus on finding solutions to reduce barriers that have been identified in this study Another future research direction is to build educational models that have a balance between knowledge and skills In this new educational model, the reseachers should be focus the social skills that to be practiced for students with disabilities Unless children with disabilities are trained in appropriate skills, they will not be able to become real workers when they are adults It can even become a heavy burden for society