Right to education for children with disabilities in Vietnam: Legal framework and practice

Abstract

For children with disabilities, education can provide them with better access to employment in future and easier integration into society. Based on the overview and analysis of available literature, this study summarises existing policy documents as a legal framework and clarifies the practice of accessing education for children with disabilities in Vietnam. On the basis of international commitments, the Vietnamese government has issued and implemented a massive number of policy documents as a legal framework to recognise and ensure the implementation of the rights of children with disabilities. However, the literature showed that the practical access to education among this group of children is still limited. Children with disabilities have been facing many barriers such as their limited cognitive abilities at schools and their families having difficulty finding appropriate schools. On this basis of the research, the authors offer several policy recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the legal framework to ensure better educational opportunities for children with disabilities in practice.