KUCHING, July 8: Michael Kong, a special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, urges the government to pay more attention to children with special needs.
In a statement, he revealed that during his visit with Chong to SK Laksamana yesterday, they discovered that 85 of the school’s 300 students have special needs, such as autism, dyslexia, Down Syndrome, and so forth.
“Unlike normal classrooms, the ideal teacher-to-student ratio for those with special needs should be about 1:10. This naturally means that more resources will be required to teach them,” he said.
Kong noted that SK Laksamana intends to open up another classroom to cater to the growing number of students with special needs.
“To support their cause and also their goal which is to provide education to all children regardless of their backgrounds, we have allocated a sum of RM20,000 for them to carry out the upgrade.
“It is hoped that the government can come up with more initiatives to help our young ones with special needs.
“At the same time, we hope that the government can also give more resources to schools which cater to students with special needs,” he added. — DayakDaily
