Disabled students remain committed despite difficulties

KUALA NERUS: Listening to teacher’s explanations in video recordings and greeting classmates in Google Meet application may be the most enjoyable time for students who participated in online HomeBased Teaching and Learning (PdPR) sessions.

However, it is hard for students who are persons with disabilities (PwD) to enjoy the same lively environment, which calls for more creative efforts by teachers and parents to ensure the PdPR sessions could be held smoothly for them.

A parent, Rahimah Zainal, 39, said teachers’ creativity and family’s support were crucial in achieving the PdPR goals for her daughter, Danisya Amelyn Ruzaki, 17, who has hearing problems so as not to be left behind in her school lessons.

“It was hard at the beginning of the PdPR because my daughter fully depends on sign language to communicate.

“Students with special needs require specific attention from teachers who teach using sign language. Parents at home also have to help their children remain focus in their online classes,” she told Bernama, when contacted, here yesterday.

For Normah Harun, 46, she greatly appreciated the commitment from teachers who taught her son, Ahmad Zubaidi Helmi, 19, who also has hearing problems, as it was not an easy task.

“The school teachers always communicate with parents to find out the best platform to carry out the PdPR sessions. We have tried various methods including by sending notes in WhatsApp, Telegram, and using Google Meet but for me, the most effective way is by using video calls.

“My son can easily understand the teacher’s explanation in video calls as this method is most suitable for two-way communications. However, this method requires a high commitment from the teachers as it only allows a maximum of four students in one session,” she said while hoping that the face-to-face school sessions would resume immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

Meanwhile, a teacher at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Ibrahim Fikri here, Wan Nur Adli Tengah @ Wan Ngah, 35, said all the challenges would never break his determination to teach and contribute to his special needs’ students.

He said the PdPR was the sweetest memory in his nine years of teaching as he needed to teach his students without seeing them physically.

“Teachers who teach these special needs students have to beef up their efforts because they often lose focus in physical classes, let alone in online classes. They have to be more attentive now because the main communication medium is sign language.

“Thankfully, as days went by, there are improvements among students as they can grasp at least one PdPR medium, namely WhatsApp,” said Wan Nur Adli who also created TikTok videos to attract the student’s interest.