Teachers and Rights Activists Fight for Disabled People's Education

Since 2005, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the Coalition for Disabled People's Education Rights (CDPER) have fought for laws that will protect and promote the rights of the disabled to an education.

In South Korea, nearly 50% of disabled adults have received no schooling beyond the primary level. Many disabled children spend most weekdays at home because they are not provided with appropriate schools, teachers, or transportation.

Recently, KTU members and other volunteers established night schools for students with disabilities, and were able to secure government support and public transportation. Due to the efforts of the KTU and CDPER, the Law of No Discrimination against Disabled People was passed in March.

The KTU and CDPER are now campaigning in support of a law that will guarantee access to education for Koreans with disabilities - Jangaein Gyoyuk Jiwonbob. Currently, special needs teachers must assist more than seven disabled children, and there are few facilities for these students. In order to allow these children to participate at school with their peers, the KTU and CDPER suggest that the government increase the budget for these children to 6% of the total budget of each education board.

During a rally in front of the National Assembly on April 14, 2007, a parent of a disabled child told of her attempt to commit family suicide when she had to carry her child on her back to school and to visit the doctor. The KTU and CDPER believe that no family should be deprived of access to education and health care.

The KTU's campaign is part of Education For All, a global campaign that Education International and the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) have directed since the Dakar World Education Forum in 2000. At the Forum, delegates of over 100 national governments committed to ensuring "that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality."

The KTU has joined with other teacher unions in Global Action Week, from April 23rd to 29th, in order to promote Education For All. You can join the GCE online by visiting www.campaignforeducation.org.

2007.04.23
Kim Sukkyu

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