Amirudin (centre) witnessing state women empowerment and welfare committee chairman Anfaal Saari (fourth from right) presenting a RM100,000 mock cheque to YIDE general manager Nur Mohd Razali Abdullah (in green) at Bangunan Dewan Negeri Selangor. — Bernama
Selangor government has donated RM100,000 to the Selangor GISBH Children’s Recovery Task Force to develop a comprehensive and effective recovery plan for children rescued from welfare homes run by GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISB).
The donation was made through Yayasan Islam Darul Ehsan (YIDE), which is responsible for coordinating funds received for the children.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the task force came up with a recovery plan encompassing four main clusters, namely welfare, legal, health and education.
“The Welfare Department (JKM) ensures that all the needs and facilities for the GISB children are fully met under the welfare cluster.
“As for the legal cluster, we are exploring aspects to help the children recover within a reasonable period.
“In the health aspect, Selangor Health Department will lead the health recovery programme with the aid of specialists from different fields,” he said in a press conference after the mock cheque donation presentation at Bangunan Dewan Negeri Selangor in Shah Alam during break time from the state assembly sitting.
A total of 264 children from GISB are currently being cared for at JKM’s shelter home in Selangor.
According to Amirudin, intensive screening and examinations carried out from Nov 4 to 8 on the affected children found 26.8% of them stunted and 6.8% severely stunted.
“After two months in the care of JKM, 38.6% of the children showed weight gain while 22% of them aged a few months to six years have speech problems.
“The mental health screening found 84.8% experiencing depression and 96.7% having anxiety.”
Amirudin said those who required further intervention for mild and moderate categories would be referred to counsellors or clinical psychologists.
He added that education recovery programmes had been conducted since Oct 1, including academic and faith recovery.
The education programme is led by Selangor Education Department with contributions from Selangor Islamic Religious Council, Selangor Islamic Religious Department and Persatuan Taska Negeri Selangor (PTNS).
Education assessments found that the children, from preschool level to upper secondary, had good grasp of Bahasa Melayu and Mathematics but faced difficulties in English.
“Eight special needs children are found to be unable to learn.
“For children with special needs and under six years old, PTNS will provide them with fun and meaningful experiences while building the essential skills they need,” he added. ― By JAROD LIM
