| James Kon |
THE Ministry of Education acknowledged that there is an insufficient number of special education teachers and assistants in comparison with the huge number of special needs students in the country. The ministry is also working with the Special Education Unit to address the concern by equipping more teachers with specific skills th-rough courses that are currently or will be conducted for Special Education Needs Assistance (SENA) teachers.
YB Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, Minister of Education addressed the concern about the quality of special education raised by YB Pehin Orang Kaya Pendikar Alam Dato Paduka Seri Haji Hasrin bin Dato Paduka Haji Sabtu at the 13th Legislative Council session yesterday.
He revealed that 110 SENA teachers have the qualification on ‘Integrated Sound Word Approach’ (KGBK) while 120 SENA teachers from primary and secondary as well as 125 homeroom teachers are trained to help the problem of visual or codebase as well as orientation and mobility. Sixty-three SENA teachers and 11 homeroom teachers are trained for problem on hearing. Twenty-eight SENA teachers and homeroom teachers are trained in pic-ture exchange communication system (PECS).
SENA teachers and home-room teachers are also trained on approach Structured Learning Assistance (SLA) to help students with autism and others.
“The Special Education Unit continuously hosted a number of programmes for teachers and individuals like introduction on inclusive education course for the teachers in both government and private schools, induction course on pre vocational for homeroom and subject teachers and others,” the minister said.
Despite the lack of teaching staff, the minister guaranteed that the Special Education Unit will try its best to ensure that only qualified and trained teachers will assist special needs student.
YB Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, Minister of Education. – AZROL AZMI
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