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Report on the Talk about Educational Opportunities for Children with Down Syndrome held on 13.March 99 in the Penang Hospital.
The talk was very well attended with 54 Families of children with Down Syndrome attending as well as 25 other interested parties like teachers, Headmasters etc. All in all more than 100 persons were present.
The welcoming speech was delivered by the chairman of the organising committee Mdm. Sharifah Daud. (see Photo)
After that the microphone was taken over by the Chairman of the Penang Down Syndrome Support Group Mr. Au Mun Leong. He introduced the first speaker Mr. Aziz Hashim who is the head of the Division of Special Education of the Education Department in Penang. He outlined the structure and policy of the Education Department and then presented a list of schools in Penang which offer classes for children with special needs. This list can be found here. Special interest found the procedure (click) he outlined for admitting children to these special classes. First rule: go to his department on the fourth floor of Bangunan Tuanku Syed Putra and see him or his assistant.
The next speaker was Mr. Benedict Martin. He has over 30 years experience in special education and his main presentation was an outline with photos of a sheltered workshop in Ipoh where young adults with disabilities (some of them Down Syndrome) get trained in various skills and learn to earn their own keep either by working in the centre or by working in the open market.
The talk was concluded with a question and answer session. Many questions were asked about what can be done in a specific situation. Answers were given but what became very clear is that the most benefit can be achieved by an early intervention program and that unfortunately the government does not provide this. There are only two ways out and that is either private centers like ACS or schools from the welfare department, for example, the centre for the Handicapped children in Dato Keramat Road. But it became plain, that in this area most changes have to take place and more early intervention centres need to be created to prepare these children for some form of integrated Education as well as future jobtraining.
The talk ended at 6pm after some more informal questions in a smaller Groups.
Thanks to all participants.