MOE to give more support to special education schools

SINGAPORE — Special education schools and teachers will get more support from the Ministry Of Education (MOE).

From 2011, there will be scholarships for principals and key personnel in special education schools, said Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu on Friday.

Up to 10 scholarships will be offered each year to non—graduate principals and staff to pursue degree—level training in special education.

Another two post—graduate scholarships will be offered yearly to those who are graduates, to pursue Masters degree programmes locally or overseas.

MOE will sponsor special education school psychologists for the part—time Diploma in Educational Psychology at the National Institute of Education. And to enhance the schools’ administrative capacity, MOE will introduce the post of administration manager.

Ms Fu announced the new moves at the Special Education Teacher Award ceremony on Friday where one award recipient was Ms Jenny Lim, 44, a special educator since 1988. She is now a senior assistant and prefect mistress at the Lee Kong Chian Gardens School, which caters to students with intellectual disabilities.

"I have come across many children where, if we use the right approach and strategy, we can get a lot out of them," she said. The award is just the icing on the cake — "the smiles on the kids’ faces, their progress and happiness, the support the families are getting — those are enough reward for me", she said.

— TODAY/sc