| Rokiah Mahmud |
THE Ministry of Education (MoE) is committed in giving immediate attention and providing suitable infrastructure to the special needs students in the country in order for them to achieve excellence in their academics and preparation for working environments.
The ministry will also continuously strive in providing expertise, especially to the Special Education Needs Assistant (SENA) teachers, to guide children with various abilities for them to learn based on their talents.
This was stressed by the Minister of Education, Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, at a ceremony to hand over special equipment and learning resources to special needs students held at the main hall of the ministry’s new building on Old Airport Road, Berakas.
The Ministry of Education will continue to cooperate and welcome the involvement of donors either individually or as a group, he added.
The minister highlighted that recent studies have shown that specialised resources and learning aids can help students with special needs tremendously in accessing their learning environment and achieve maximum potential.
Data from the Special Education Unit (SEU) indicates that students who are provided with learning aids achieved good results in public examinations.
Minister of Education, Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, delivering his speech. – ROKIAH MAHMUD
This in turn, opened up more opportunities for them to pursue higher education and broaden their employment prospects.
According to the minister, out of 376 Year 6 pupils who are under the Remedial Educational Plan (REP), 98 pupils, or 26.1 per cent, have passed in four core subjects namely Malay Language, English Language, Mathematics and Science during the Primary School Assessment (PSR) in 2015.
Meanwhile, 23 out of 74 pupils with special needs – those with impaired hearing, impaired vision, speaking and communication problems, autism, physical disabilities and so on – have succeeded in four core subjects in their 2015 PSR examination.
The minister also informed that some of these special needs students have shown their potential by participating in international competitions – both academic and sports.
Currently there are 4,161 students with special needs pursuing their education in various primary, secondary and higher education institutions in the country – 169 are pre-schoolers, 2,935 are in primary schools, 973 in secondary schools and 84 are in higher education institutions, he said.
With the setting up of the Special Education Unit (SEU), a new generation of educators are successfully being trained.
They are the SENA teachers who are trained with specific skills to assist the special needs students.
At the moment, the ministry has 144 SENA teachers, 43 Homeroom Teachers (HRT), 102 Learning Support Teachers (LST) and 129 relief teachers, the minister explained.
“Therefore, with integrated cooperation among members of the School Based Team that includes headmasters and headmistress, SENA teachers and officers from the Special Education Unit, the school is able to provide an ‘Individual Education Plan’ for every special needs students,” the minister said.
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