China has decided to allocate 600 million yuan (about US$87.7 million) to build 190 special schools for the disabled this year, an official said on Wednesday.

The fund was ten times the special education subsidy injected in the ten years starting on 1991, according to Sun Xiande, deputy director-general of the China Disabled Persons' Federation.

"The government will gradually increase its input in education for the disabled people by allocating more funds and resources to raise the proportion of these people who can get access to education," Sun said.

Nearly 20,000 disabled students were studying in higher education institutions by 2007, accounting for less than one thousandth of the country's 82.9 million people with a disability, the federation's figures showed.

In 2007, 5,234 disabled persons were admitted to ordinary colleges and another 1,086 enrolled in special colleges.

People with disabilities have been receiving public education for decades in the country.

Since the launching of reform and opening-up 30 years ago, China has gradually built a special education system for its people with disabilities, which includes fundamental education, vocational training, higher education and adult education.

By 2007, there were 1,667 special schools and 2,803 special classes affiliated with ordinary schools for vision and hearing impaired and intellectually disabled children, enrolling a total of 580,000 students compared to 47,200 in 1986, the federation's figures showed.

In addition, nearly 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have established subsidy schemes for disabled college students.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2008)