A new vocational school has been set up by Malaysia’s Ministry of Education (MoE) to provide higher education pathways for special needs students.
The announcement follows a push by the Malaysian government to provide schools with more special education teachers, who are in urgent demand.
The vocational special education school will offer the Malaysian Skills Certificate (SKM) to special needs students, helping them become independent and enjoy a better quality of life.
Malaysia’s Deputy Education Minister, Teo Nie Ching, said the school will add to several vocational special education schools, located in Inderaputra, Johor; Shah Alam, Selangor; Kuantan, Pahang and Merbok, Kedah.
“All teachers at these vocational special education schools have been or are being given training at SKM Level 3 to enable them to teach as accredited teachers in the field of skills,” MalayMail quoted Teo as saying.
Teo was responding to a question by Malaysian politician V. Sivakumar about the extent to which the government paid attention and encouragement to special needs students in the technical and vocational field.
Clarifying these concerns, Teo said the Ministry provided skills education in special education secondary schools, as well as day schools, that offered Integrated Special Education Program to special needs students.
“At the moment, we have two special education secondary schools that provide skills programmes, at Setapak, Kuala Lumpur and Penang,” Teo said.
“We are also committed to setting up another special education secondary school in Penang, so we hope through this additional school, we can offer 250 more places for special needs students.”
The MoE is also conducting a study to improve the disabled friendly infrastructure to all special education schools that would be implemented in stages.
Related stories:
What would a fully inclusive education system look like?
Calls for Royal Commission into disability support