KUCHING: Malaysia has a total of 78,310 pupils or students with special needs, Minister of Education Malaysia Dato’ Seri Mahdzir Khalid disclosed.
He said the out of this figure, a total of 2,320 are students of special education schools ( Sekolah Pendidikan Khas).
He said Malaysia also has Special Integration Education Programme with a total of 60,873 pupils.
Malaysia, he said, also has Inclusive Education Programme which has a total of 15,117 students.
“So in Malaysia we have 78,310 students that are called pupils or students with special needs,” the minister disclosed at a press conference after officiating at the closing of the 2nd International Conference on Special Education (ICSE 2017) at Borneo Convention Centre (BCCK) here yesterday.
Mahdzir also informed that at the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) level, at the moment, there are four vocational schools for special education.
He didn’t have the figure on the number of students at these special vocational schools. However, in Sarawak, there are roughly around 1,000 students with special needs in the various institutions.
In view of the high number of special need students and the need to increase the number of teachers, Mahdzir pointed out that they had taken steps to contain the problem.
“We have the Teachers Education Institute (IPGs) that produce specialists teachers to teach students with special needs namely those with problems such as being blind or visually impaired, the deafs, those with learning difficulties or slow learners as well as those with physical problems.
On the need to set up one special IPG in Sarawak, Mahdzir said there is a need to have a study on the manpower needs.
Mahdzir said Malaysia is sharing its experience with other countries and other countries are also sharing their experience and methods with Malaysia.
The two-day ICSE 2017 was attended by 650 delegates including presenters and experts in the field of education from 11 countries.
