KUCHING: The Welfare, Community, Well-Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry will be organising a ‘Discourse on Early Childhood Development’ this coming Sept 13 to 15 at Pullman Hotel.
Themed ‘Early Education: Inclusivity, The Way Forward’, the programme aims to assist educators and caregivers to better understand, guide, nurture and educate children or children with special needs at an early age.
The programme will have three forums on ‘Disability is Not A Barrier for Children to Study Together’, ‘Education for All’, and ‘Involvement of Parents in Caregiving and Educating Children with Disabilities’.
Four working papers will also be presented at the forum. They are ‘Nursing, Guiding and Inclusive Education in Early Childhood Education in Malaysia’, ‘Inclusive Education in Sarawak: Issues and Challenges’, ‘Teachers Perception on The Inclusiveness of Autistic Children in Early Childhood Education’ and ‘To Identify The Different Disabilities and The Different Level of Disabilities Among Children’.
Its minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the programme would not only be benefit the teachers, but also parents.
“This programme is very important for us, especially in Sarawak, when we want to implement inclusive education for our children,” she said in a press conference at Baitulmakmur building, Petra Jaya yesterday.
She added that the speakers and experts involved would be able to provide knowledge, skills and information for teachers to recognise the different disabilities and level of disabilities in children.
“Teachers from nurseries and kindergartens statewide have been invited to participate. As of today, a total of 556 participants have registered to join,” she said.
The programme will be officiated at by Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud on Sept 14, and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan will be officiating at the closing ceremony on Sept 15.
“All this while we have been encouraging nurseries to always improve themselves so more quality nurseries will be produced,” she stressed.
“We know it is very important to have quality early childhood institutions, because through quality early childhood education, only then we can have quality children.”
Registration for the programme is free and is still open. Those interested can contact the ministry for details.
