KUALA LUMPUR: The number of students who are registered Persons With Disabilities (OKU) in Malaysia has reached almost 290,000 this year, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The Women, Family and Community Development Minister said at least 289,161 students with learning disabilities registered from January to October 2024, which was a sizable increase over the previous 262,283 students registered in 2023.
She said this increase was an encouraging sign of parental awareness.
“This increased awareness will be key to eliminating the stigma associated with children with disabilities and also further educating the people on their struggles.
“To ensure this step has a positive impact, the government needs to develop a strong framework or guidelines to protect, support and empower this group,” she said during the national-level celebration of OKU Day 2024 yesterday.
Despite this increase, Nancy acknowledged the number of registered OKU in the country was still relatively low and did not reflect the actual current number.
She said this was due to most OKU or their families not knowing how to register as an OKU or recognise their loved ones’ disabilities.
“Many OKU either have no idea how to register as an OKU or that they can lead relatively normal lives despite their disabilities.
“However, increasing the number of registered OKU is important because the data will be used for the government’s long-term development planning for this community.
“Additionally, children who are not registered as persons with disabilities will miss out on various benefits provided by the government,” Nancy told a press conference after the event.
She said this was especially bad for OKU children as a lack of early intervention could result in long-term suffering, as well as a potential loss for the country.
“As we have seen so many times before, many of these OKU children have the potential to become geniuses and the pride of our country – whether as lawyers, graduates in the sciences, or film producers,” she said.
She revealed that there were 740,844 registered OKU as of Oct 31 this year, comprising 486,507 men and 254,337 women.
Nancy also announced that the Welfare Department would collaborate with three local universities to develop new modules on how to care for and nurture OKU children.
Universiti Sains Malaysia will develop a generic OKU children’s care and nurturing module.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya and International Islamic University Malaysia will be respectively in charge of developing modules on caring for OKU children with autism and those with Down Syndrome.
“Through this, more healthcare workers will be trained to care for OKU students.
“This will ensure the specific needs of OKU children are met, so that they are not left behind in the mainstream world,” said Nancy.
She also said the government had yet to fill the 1% quota of public sector positions for OKU.
She attributed this to several factors, including older government buildings without OKU facilities and a lack of incentive for OKU to join the public sector.
