KUALA TERENGGANU, July 15 — Returning to school is like a journey to a whole new world for students with special needs.
This situation can be seen when Bernama visited Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas, Chendering, here where the atmosphere was cheerful as the animated fingers of students with hearing disabilities flew in the air as they communicated with each other.
Meanwhile, pupils with visual impairment also greeted each other in their own special way after being separated for the past four months.
All 53 students in the school comprising 33 with hearing disabilities and the rest with vision impairment, had undergone the learning process from home following the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Year Six pupil Alya Maisarah Nuzan who has vision impairment said she was so happy to be able to study at school because the learning environment was more conducive and she could ask questions directly to the teacher.
“Back home, I do the homework assigned by the teacher but it is not much fun because there are no friends around…so today I am truly excited to be learning as usual again,” said Alya Maisarah who is very interested in the subject of Bahasa Melayu.
Meanwhile, Nur Ainun Solehah Azman, 10, admits that she is more focused during the school sessions because she can learn a topic in-depth with her friends.
Using hand gestures translated by her teacher, the student said she really missed the school atmosphere because there she could chat with friends through hand gestures which most other people do not understand.
Meanwhile, Education Ministry Special Education Division director Datuk Dr. Yasmin Hussain who visited the school today said she found from the observation that SOP compliance was very good and the students were disciplined during the learning sessions.
“The schools have made many innovations to make sure the students are excited to come to class … I applaud the efforts made by the teachers who worked hard to make the best preparations,” she said.
To date, there are over 92,000 students and 15,000 special education teachers throughout the country.
Sources: BERNAMA