Sixteen-year-old Hou Qiren, who has autism, had a new choice this year for continuing his education after graduating from a junior high school of special education in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Teachers, students and parents take part on the first day of an arts and craft class for mentally challenged students at Guangzhou Haizhu Business Vocational School on Monday.

He enrolled in a special arts and crafts class with five other students with learning disabilities at Guangzhou Haizhu Business Vocational School, a regular secondary vocational school, where they attended their first class on Monday.

Previously, Hou would have had to apply for a regular class at a secondary vocational school or a vocational class at a special education school.

The first option would mean he had the pressure of a regular curriculum and trying to keep up with his fellow students. As for the second option, only two special schools were certified last year to provide vocational classes in the city, so not many places were available for applicants, according to Qiu Jubiao of the Guangzhou Education Bureau.

Guangzhou is taking the lead among cities on the Chinese mainland in opening special classes at vocational schools to train more students with learning disabilities and enable them to better adapt to society, said Qiu, who works in special education research.

Such a practice is already prevalent in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Qiu said.

Guangzhou Haizhu Business Vocational School is one of three secondary vocational schools in Guangzhou that enrolled enough children with learning disabilities to launch special classes last month.

Thirteen special classes at these vocational schools for children with slight disabilities in Guangzhou called for applications in September, with nine majors including baking, false-teeth making, computer science, community service and management, car care and gardening. The city government provides 100,000 yuan ($16,370) toward launching each special class.

For three years, students in the special class at Guangzhou Haizhu Business Vocational School will take classes on professional skills such as drawing, pottery, cartooning and packaging.

They will also have classes on living skills and applied knowledge, such as social skills, math, computer science and vocational understanding.

Optional classes include knitting, sewing, photography and beading.

The goal is to enable them to better integrate into society and to be able to live independently in the future, said Qu Shaobing, director of Guangzhou Education Bureau.