Having ‘learning difficulties’: the inclusive education of disabled girls and boys in Vietnam

This article examines the ‘inclusive education’ strategy in Vietnam and the extent to which it facilitates learning in students with disabilities. After the introduction of the doi moi (renewal) policy in 1986, Vietnamese society went through a period of rapid transformation, including the educational sector. Debates on teaching means, curricula, learning, and the inclusion of children with disabilities in public school classes increasingly became a focus of concern. Supported by international aid organizations, the Vietnamese government initiated the implementation of an ‘inclusive education’ program which aims at mainstreaming the public school system in order to include all students regardless of disabilities. Even though the partners involved in the introduction of the ‘Inclusive Education’ program into Vietnam usually refer to it as a success, my data indicate that the program tends to amplify already identified problems in the public educational system mainly caused by overloaded and abstract curricula and a pervasive rote-learning tradition. The article shows how girls — disabled girls, in particular — are susceptible to pedagogical setbacks in the public school system.