Inclusive Education Experiences of Parents in Malaysia

Inclusive education of children with disabilities is accepted internationally as a standard and right for all children. While Malaysia appears to subscribe to this opinion in principle, the reality on the ground appears to be challenging and many parents and children face difficulties obtaining full inclusion.

Inclusion means that the child is placed alongside other children and fully participates in the mainstream class, not in an integration or special class or special school. It also means that we do not deny any child the opportunity for education.

The National Education Blueprint spells out that inclusion is the expected norm for any child with disabilities and has set targets for the Ministry of Education (MOE) schools to achieve - 30% special education needs (SEN) students in the inclusive programme by 2015 and 75% by 2023.

Parents, professionals and NGOs from various national family support groups conducted a survey of parents in Malaysia to share their inclusive education experiences for children with special needs attending primary school. The survey was aimed at capturing recent positive or negative experiences with both Ministry of Education (MOE) schools as well as private, international and home schools. We targeted parents who have attempted inclusive education into primary school recently (in the past 3 years), whether successful or not. The group hoped to give feedback to MOE and the public about the current status of inclusive readiness of schools and the need to promote this.

Click HERE for the full study and report of the survey.