PART 2 REPORT ON THE COMMISSION’S FORUM ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR CWLD • In school, she faced difficulties in understanding and following the lessons and was unable to communicate effectively with teachers and friends. In addition, the teachers were not trained to recognize her learning disabilities and thus were unable to accommodate and support her learning process. • Initially, in her work life, she was unable to handle stress and pressure and hence was changing jobs frequently due to poor performance. • She said that she knew all the time that something was not right with her and only as an adult, did she get herself medically examined and was diagnosed with mild Cerebral Palsy. • After knowing that, she went to obtain vocational training and attended Pusat Latihan Perindustrian dan Pemulihan (PLPP) Bangi for an IT course. Currently, she is working at Spraying Systems Sdn Bhd. • She is now an active member of United Voice, an NGO whose members are made up of persons with learning disabilities. She stressed that United Voice had provided her with the opportunity to grow and improve her leadership skills. Most importantly, this NGO has accorded the opportunity to people like her to voice out opinions and views for betterment of the society. Panel 2: Challenges & Issues among the Special Education Teachers by Ms Lok Yim Pheng, General Secretary of National Union of the Teaching Profession Malaysia (NUTP) 6. Ms Lok Yim Pheng highlighted the issues and challenges in Special Education. The challenges and issues regarding children with learning disabilities may be divided into four categories: a. School facilities • It was flagged that not every schools in all states have special education programmes; and in schools that do, the numbers of classes are limited. In addition, the size of special education classrooms is not spacious and conducive for the learning process. • She also stressed that special education programme textbooks are limited and sometimes insufficient. b. Students • It was stressed that special need students faced difficulties in following and understanding the mainstream syllabus (KSSR). • There is a high rate of absenteeism amongst children with learning disabilities. Some parents do not send their children to school because of certain circumstances or students have to undergo physiotherapy/ 53