Special needs schools asked to use mother tongue
KUCHING: Teachers in special needs schools have been asked to teach and converse in the mother tongue of their students.
Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said this will allow the students to better understand the curriculum and have a positive attitude towards learning.
Learning begins at home in the mother tongue language. The school is a continuation of the learning process where the child was previously learning after experiencing it at home. Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development
“Learning begins at home in the mother tongue language. The school is a continuation of the learning process where the child was previously learning after experiencing it at home,” she said during SJK Bintawa’s 44th Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony yesterday.
She said using the mother tongue would help children, especially those with special needs, to engage in the learning process by asking and answering questions with greater confidence.
Fatimah pointed out that SJK Bintawa was the first school in Sarawak to use Mandarin for the Special Education Integration Programme ( PPKI) in 2013, followed by SJK Tai Kuan in Sibu.
Meanwhile, she said a preschool in Samarahan uses Bidayuh and is supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund ( Unicef) as the language faces the risk of extinction, while another preschool in Bario uses Kelabit. Both preschools also emphasise local culture and traditions in their curriculum.
“The teachers are trained and will be coming up with their own books and teaching materials in the respective languages,” said Fatimah, adding that the decline of both languages is mostly due to intermarriage.