Korean special education learning in Nepal

The Leading University Project for International Cooperation (LUPIC, Changwon National University, Korea) held a discussion in Kathmandu on Friday to promote special education in Nepal. A workshop on the new concept of Korean special education was held with the principals of ten special schools in Kathmandu.

In the workshop, Dr. Kamal Prasad Pokhrel, joint secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of the Government of Nepal, presented the current situation, policies and future tasks of special education in Nepal. He stressed on the need to improve special education and provide opportunities for special education to many disabled children who have not received proper education.

Similarly, Park Juyeol, the principal of Korea Woojin School, gave information about the special school in Korea. She said that the Korean government provides free education up to higher education. She informed that all disabled persons up to 21 years of age will receive special education with government support without paying any educational expenses.

She also said that the Korean government has developed and implemented a separate special education curriculum for students receiving special education. She informed that each special school selects and adjusts educational materials and methods that match the needs of its students based on the national level special education curriculum. For that, special education courses and special teachers are being organized at the school level, She said.

Similarly, Korean teacher Han Youngsun said that it is necessary to improve education in special schools in Nepal. Likewise, Korean professor Jung Daeyoung said that he is confident that all disabled people in Nepal will receive special education in the near future.

The principals of the special schools participating in the workshop expressed their views that even though the Nepalese government has not provided satisfactory support for the special education and welfare of the disabled people, they have had a great opportunity to study the cases in Korea. They claimed that there are many disabled people in Nepal who are hiding at home and therefore they do not have access to compulsory education.

They argued that in the near future, the state will move forward to improve the standard of living of all disabled people in Nepal by guaranteeing their right to education.