M’sia committed to provide inclusive education for all children

KUCHING: The education of children with disabilities must be geared towards providing them with skills and knowledge that will empower them to lead independent lives and able to contribute to the communities.

Minister of Education Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid assured yesterday that Malaysia is very committed to provide an inclusive education for all children regardless of their abilities.

There are a total of 78,310 students with special needs in Malaysia whereby 2,320 of them are in special schools while 60,873 are undergoing Special Education Integration Programme and 15,117 in the Special Education Inclusive Programme.

"It is both a vision and work in progress in Malaysia to ensure education delivery for children with disabilities is given utmost care and consideration," he said at the closing ceremony of the 2nd International Conference on Special Education (ICSE 2017) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.

The three-day conference was attended by more than 650 participants consisting educators, administrators and field experts from Asean countries and around the world.

The education agenda today, Mahdzir added, was full of challenges that must be handled with effective strategies and methods so that it can be realistically implemented.