Over 40,000 disabled people enrolled in university over past 5 years

A total of 40,486 disabled people in China have been admitted to universities over the past five years, thanks to government subsidies, officials told a meeting on Friday.

Following the release of a series of plans on special education in 2014, more than 100,000 disabled students received aid to continue their studies, while over 4,500 teachers received specialist training, according to officials gathered at a China Disabled Persons' Federation meeting.

At the elementary level, 71.2 percent of disabled children were accepted to nine-year compulsory education during 2011 and 2015.

Disabled people in China have also enjoyed better social security services during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, as a basic living allowance was made available to more than 11 million disabled people nationwide, the officials said.

Moreover, over 70 percent of China's disabled are now covered by a pension insurance program, with 5,917 nursing agencies providing services.

In terms of employment, more than 21 million disabled people in China have a job, which lifted 5 million people out of poverty during the five years, the officials added.

There were 29.5 million disabled people across China that had been registered in a state-level database for the disabled as of the end of 2014, according to statistics of the federation. Endi