KUCHING, Feb 22: In addition to the regular curriculum, preschool children in the State will also learn basic sign language to promote inclusivity in society.
This was revealed by Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah during a press conference today after she attended an Early Childhood Development Council meeting.
Starting with SeDidik preschools, children will learn basic sign language, such as how to sign ‘thank you’ and the appropriate gesture for applause.
“This is so that the Deaf can communicate with society and vice-versa, making it a two-way communication.
“We also want our children to know about the needs of the Deaf community from a young age,” she said.
Meanwhile, Fatimah who is also the Dalat assemblywoman, said that her ministry will work with the Ministry of Health (MoH) on a vaccination programme for children ages five to six.
“We will obtain the necessary information from the ministry and relay it to parents and early childhood education institutions so that they know the purpose of the vaccine and what’s in it.
“We will work with relevant parties and appoint a key person in each district to coordinate,” she said.
She also added that there would be two methods utilised for the vaccination rollout. The first is if the kindergarten is near a vaccination centre, the children could get vaccinated there. The second is to establish a cluster of three to four kindergartens whereby one kindergarten will be chosen for children from the remaining kindergartens in the cluster to get vaccinated at. — DayakDaily
