PART 1 THE COMMISSION’S REPORT ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES – FOCUSING ON PRIMARY EDUCATION speech disability, physical disability, learning difficulties or combination of disabilities and/or difficulties.3 9. The Ministry of Education has categorised “learning difficulties” to include students with Down Syndrome, mild autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), mild mental retardation, global development delay and specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia.4 10. As it is hoped that this Report will assist the Ministry of Education in the advancement of the education of CWLD in Malaysia, the Commission has adopted, for the purpose of this Report, the Ministry of Education’s categorisation of learning disabilities. METHODOLOGY 11. In furtherance of the study, the Commission conducted several activities to gather information and identify issues relating to the enrolment of CWLD in primary schools. The activities include:• • • • • A series of forums on the right to education for CWLD; Workshops on human rights for special education teachers; Review of existing and applicable laws and policies relating to education for CWLD Field visits to schools with integration programmes and schools run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs); and Analysis of data and statistics on CWLD gathered from a number of agencies including Ministry of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Statistics Department. Field visits to schools with integration programmes and to schools run by nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) 12. In 2013 and early 2014, the Commission visited 24 (as of October 2014) government schools with special education integration programmes (SEIP), schools run by NGOs as well as community rehabilitation centres (CBR). Due to its limitation in resources, the Commission was not able to visit schools and NGO centres all over Malaysia. The schools and NGO centres were selected based on their accessibility and in some instances, to coincide with the Commission’s programmes in certain States or areas. Regulation 3 of the Education (Special Education) Regulations 2013 defines “pupils with special education needs” to mean a pupil who is certified by a medical practitioner, an optometrist, an audiologist or a psychologist as the case may be, whether is service of the government or not, as pupil having – (a) Visual disability; (b) Hearing disability; (c) Speech disability; (d) Physical disability; (e) Learning disability; or (f) Any combination of the disabilities and difficulties; referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e)” 4 Source: Quick Facts 2014 - Malaysia Educational Statistics by the Ministry of Education’. See too, Yeo Swee Lan - Self-Advocacy Movement of Persons with Learning Disabilities: A Case Study in the Malaysian Context, 2007. 3 5