Sabah plans a school for autistic children

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah is considering a school for autistic children, says Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Datuk James Ratib.

He said the state hopes to get the pilot project off the ground by the end of the year with funding from the state Welfare Department even as a working paper was being prepared for the state Cabinet’s consideration.

Ratib said there were some 14,000 autistic children in Sabah, and it was necessary for the state to help address the issue, especially providing a school for them.

“Setting up a school would help as a private school for special needs people is very expensive and not affordable to many,” he said during the installation of Sabah Association of Senior Citizen (SASC) on Wednesday (Aug 23).

Ratib said that the move to set up the school would help ease the financial burden of parents with autistic children.

On the status of investigations into the alleged abuse of a five-year-old boy at a childcare centre in Luyang here two weeks ago, he said the matter was still being probed by the police.

“The matter is under the police,” he told reporters, adding that they were monitoring the issue as they considered it a very serious matter.

In the meantime, he said the Welfare Department was making arrangements with all child care operators to update them on the need to constantly ensure children under their care are safe.

He said the department and relevant authorities would also carry out spot checks at all registered childcare centres.

Ratib also said that they were considering setting up a hotline for people to complain about childcare centres.

A 27-year-old caregiver was arrested by police in connection with the abuse of a four-year-old boy at the centre after CCTV footage showed her assaulting the boy, following which, the parents lodged the police report.