Optional Year 1 entry at age six must afford flexibility to children with disabilities — Fatimah

KUCHING (Feb 25): Flexibility must continue to be given to children with disabilities with regard to the policy allowing six-year-old pupils to enter Year One for the 2027 school session, said Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.

The Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development noted that under the existing arrangement, parents were allowed to enrol children with disabilities into Year One at the age of seven or eight.

“Will it be the same? We hope that the same flexibility will be given to children with special needs,” she said during the Sarawak Early Childhood Development Council press conference at Baitulmakmur II here yesterday.

She stressed that readiness should remain the key consideration for children with disabilities when entering primary school.

“The child, when they are ready, should then enter primary school whether at seven or eight years old. It should not necessarily be at six years old for children with disabilities.
“They might not be ready at six because of the different spectrum of disabilities among our children—some are severe, some moderate and others mild. So it depends on their readiness in terms of age to enter Year One. There must be flexibility,” she said.