THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES – FOCUSING ON PRIMARY EDUCATION 34 (b) Teacher’s Aide (Pembantu Pengurusan Murid) 104. In 2004, the Ministry of Education introduced the post of teacher’s aide (Grade 17 post) to support and assist special education teachers in class in managing the students and generally assisting them in their lessons.45 The current ratio of teacher’s aide to special needs students is one to ten. TABLE 7: NUMBER OF TEACHER’S AIDE46 Year No. of Teacher’s Aide 2011 2598 2012 2731 2013 2,919 105. The Commission is of the view that there is an urgent need for the Ministry of Education to put in place a structured training course for these teacher’s aides to ensure that they understand their roles, appreciate the special needs of each group of students and are exposed to basic knowledge of special education. (c) Special Needs Specialists 106. Malaysia faces an acute shortage of qualified special education needs specialists. Based on the National Education Blueprint, there are only 50 clinical psychologists, 157 speech therapists and 157 audiologists nationwide employed by the government and placed in public hospitals.47 107. None of the government schools have any in-house special needs specialists, and while a small number of NGO learning centres have their specialists (mostly speech specialist and occupational therapist), the majority do not. 108. While recognising the financial constraints, it is important to keep in mind that ideally, these specialists should be stationed in each school with special education programmes, be it SEIP or/and inclusive education. Their presence would not only enhance the ‘abilities’ of the children but also assist in their education development. Teacher’s aides are giving an additional allowance of RM200: Surat Pekeliling Perkhidmatan Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia Bilangan 3 Tahun 2009 - Bayaran Insentif Pembantu Pengurusan Murid Yang Terlibat Dalam Program Pendidikan Khas Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. 46 Source: Buku Data Pendidikan Khas 2013, 2012 and 2011, the Ministry of Education Malaysia. 47 Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-Secondary Education), p. 4-15. 45