By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Feb 24: The One-Stop Early Intervention Centre (OSEIC) Sarawak services for special needs children in rural area will be launched at Kompleks Kebajikan Dalat (KKD) in March 2023.
Sarawak Minister of Women, Early Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah said the KKD was completed on Aug 7, 2021, and is equipped with special facilities such as sensory integration rooms, a Snoezelen room and hydrotherapy pool.
“It is ready for OSEIC’s operations to provide early diagnosis, intervention and rehabilitation services for about 59 special needs children in Mukah division,” she said during the OSEIC Sarawak Graduation Ceremony for Year 2022 held at Imperial Hotel here today.
Fatimah also mentioned that she had presented her ministry’s plan for OSEIC services expansion to other divisions in Sarawak during Cabinet meeting yesterday.
“The Sarawak government has agreed in principle for us to establish OSEIC in places like Miri, Kapit, Tatau, Samarahan, Betong, Lawas and Dalat.
“This is our OSEIC programme expansion for the whole of Sarawak in five years’ time so that our (special needs) children outside of Kuching division can also enjoy the opportunity to be given necessary diagnosis, pre-assessment and intervention, as well as to prepare them for their next level of education,” she added.
The first OSEIC Sarawak which was launched at Metrocity Matang on Oct 30, 2020, aims to provide early diagnosis, intervention and rehabilitation for children with autism, down syndrome and learning-disabilities aged seven and below under one roof.
It started as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) project under Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) and was later taken over by the Ministry and funded by the Sarawak Government.
The curriculum and programme at OSEIC Sarawak is adopted from Genius Kurnia and the Sarawak Society for Parents of Children with Special Needs (Pibakat) – a non-governmental organisation (NGO) appointed by the Ministry to manage and operate the centre through annual grants that have been allocated by the Sarawak government.
At the OSEIC Sarawak Graduation Ceremony for Year 2022, a total of 47 OSEIC Sarawak students had graduated and will continue their studies either in the mainstream education, Full Inclusive Education Programme or Special Integration Education Programme under the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE).
The 47-student group is the second batch of graduates after the first batch comprised of 26 children graduated last year.
As of December 2022, there are 438 children registered at OSEIC Sarawak. Meanwhile, the number of learning-disabled children up to the age of seven in Sarawak stands at 1,678. — DayakDaily
