By Sheeda Fathil
KUALA SELANGOR, March 2 — The Selangor government is setting up an Independent Living Center (ILC) to help people with disabilities (OKU) get employed after finishing school.
State executive councillor for public health Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said that a RM1 million funds are allocated for the pilot project, which will be implemented soon, targeting special needs children aged 18 and above.
“ILC will provide training, especially in vocational fields, to OKU individuals who have completed schooling under the special education programme.
“We don’t want the OKU to be left behind, so we set up this centre. Some of them are more creative and skilled than the average persons, and we should give them a chance,” she told SelangorKini when after the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Universiti Selangor (Unisel) and Yayasan Warisan Anak Selangor (Yawas) at Unisel Bestari Jaya here yesterday.
Also present were Unisel president and Vice-Chancellor Prof Dato’ Dr Muhammad Redzuan Othman and Yawas general manager Gan Pei Nei.
Dr Siti Mariah also said the move to set up the ILC was initiated after parents of children with disabilities had voiced their concerns over their children’s prospects after leaving school.
“Therefore, we took the initiative to set up an ILC as it would also provide an opportunity to identify their talents,” she added.
