WE read with interest that Higher Education Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir has recently chaired an “advisory committee meeting” of experts on drafting the Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026-2035. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year to replace the current blueprint.  

We look with promise to this new plan because the Malaysia Education Development Plan 2015-2025 entitled the “Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015–2025 (Higher Education)” is thus far a total failure for persons with disabilities. The 240-page document only twice mentions persons with disabilities: Once in the context of “providing equitable access to educational opportunities”; and another time to offer “wider access” and “improved infrastructure” for lifelong learning.

There is no mention of “inclusion”, “reasonable accommodation” or creating barrier-free environments. The executive summary (40 pages), which is widely disseminated, has no mention of disability. This, despite extensive local and international consultation involving 10,500 people engaged over two years with foreign organisations and experts. It is as though 16% of the Malaysian population, those with disabilities, are non-existent to our Higher Education Ministry.

This is surprising as the 2015–2025 blueprint for higher education outlines five lofty aspirations: access, quality, equity, unity, and efficiency – all principles and aspirations close to our hearts as persons with disabilities, care partners, and civil society organisations involved in disability work/advocacy.

We fortunately have a “Garis Panduan Pelaksanaan Dasar Inklusif Orang Kurang Upaya Di Institusi Pendidikan Tinggi” launched in 2019 by then-minister of education Maszlee Malik to push for Institut Pengajian Tinggi (Institutes of Higher Education) to remove barriers and become inclusive. We would like to remind universities that just because you have students with disabilities on campus does not mean your university is inclusive. Much still remains to be done to make our public and private universities inclusive, genuinely barrier-free, learning-conducive and workplace-friendly for persons with diverse disabilities.

It might interest the Higher Education Minister to know that in 2022 only 792 persons with disabilities were enrolled in public universities. This is a mere 0.55% of the total 144,579 students enrolled for that year. For community colleges, it was 0.52% (34 out of 6,533 students) and for polytechnics, a dismal 0.20% (66 out of 31,967 students). 

It would be good to be reminded that we have been signatories to the 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) since 2008. Ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education, and the promotion of life-long learning opportunities for all are also part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which Malaysia is committed to implementing by 2030.

Despite committing to an international convention (CRPD) and development agenda (SDGs), as well as having enacted national legislation, we continue to have a dismal record on inclusive education for persons with disabilities. 

Note that the policy paper on “Early Intervention and Quality Education of Children with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific”, jointly prepared by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and United Nations Children’s Fund rated Malaysia as not promoting inclusive education. 

Hence, we appeal to Zambry to kindly enflesh the words of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 and CRPD in the Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026-2035. Make it a written policy and then work to translate that into reality.

Perhaps Zambry could reflect on these concerns: 

1. How many of the current experts he has engaged (the “advisory committee”) in drafting the Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026-2035 are persons with disabilities? Do they comprise 16% of the group in line with the population ratio of person with disabilities? 

2. What is the plan of the Higher Education Ministry to proactively engage persons with diverse disabilities, care partners, and civil society organisations knowledgeable about reasonable accommodation and other aspects of disability inclusion in education? Their meaningful participation and contributions are critical for the drafting of an inclusive blueprint. 

3. We hope the Higher Education Ministry understands the difference between “inclusive education” and “mainstreaming” for adults with disabilities. It is obvious that the Education Ministry does not appreciate this when it comes to inclusive education for children with disabilities.  

4. What approaches and initiatives will there be in the Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026-2035 to have a higher proportion of persons with disabilities in the teaching faculty, management, and decision-making positions? 

We impress on the minister that international data and research clearly shows that promoting inclusion encourages educators to design and teach courses keeping in mind that all students are unique, i.e. to practise Universal Design for Learning with diverse learning and varied assessment approaches. This increases the engagement, participation and performance of all students. In addition, Universal Design Physical Structure for all institutes of higher education will enhance accessibility and create barrier-free environments for learners, teaching staff and other employees. What we do to improve the inclusion of persons with disabilities will benefit society at large.  

We look forward to being involved in supporting the development of a meaningful Malaysia Higher Education Plan 2026-2035, one that is inclusive of all Malaysians. – July 22, 2024. 

* This letter carries the following signatures: 

1.    Dato’ Dr Amar-Singh HSS, person with dyslexia, child-disability activist, Advisor National Early Childhood Intervention Council, Advisor National Family Support Group for Children & People with Special Needs, Member, The OKU Rights Matter Project. 

2.    Ng Lai-Thin, Project Lead, National Early Childhood Intervention Council; Member, The OKU Rights Matter Project. 

3.    San Yuenwah, person with invisible disabilities; Member, The OKU Rights Matter Project; Member, Harapan OKU Law Reform Group. 

4.    Anit Kaur Randhawa, Co-Chairperson, Ad Hoc Committee on PWD Bar Council, Member, Harapan OKU Law Reform Group; Member, The OKU Rights Matter Project. 

5.    Kaveinthran, Native Blind, Independent Disabled Human Rights advocate. 

6.    Meera Samanther, Co-Chair of Bar councils Ad Hoc Committee for Disabilities , Former President of Association of Women Lawyers (AWL) & Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO); Executive Committee Member of AWL; Member of Harapan OKU Law Reform Group; Parent Advocate, Disability & Gender Activist. 

7.    Datuk (Dr) Ras Adiba Radzi, Former Senator Dewan Negara, Chairman of Persatuan OKU Sentral, chairman of Persatuan Menembak Para Malaysia. 

8.    Mohd Faiz Bin Shuhaimi, Presiden, Majlis Belia OKU Malaysia 

9.    Bathmavathi Krishnan, wheelchair using undergraduate UM (1976- 1978); Senator representing Persons with Disabilities in the Upper House, Parliament of Malaysia (2013-2016; 2016-2019). 

10.  Alvin Teoh, Parent of OKU, Advisor and founding member of National Family Support Group for Children & People with Special Needs. 

11.  Srividhya Ganapathy, co-chairperson CRIB (Child Rights Innovation & Betterment) foundation. 

12.  Christine Lee, Polio Survivor, Co-Founder, Barrier-free Environment and Accessible Transport (BEAT). 

13.  Wong Hui Min, President, National Early Childhood Intervention Council, Malaysia. 

14.  Anthony Chong (PhD), Deaf person, advocate; Co-Founder/Secretary of the Deaf Advocacy and Wellbeing National Organisation (DAWN), Malaysia. 

15.  Beatrice Leong, Autistic; Autistic Rights Advocate; Founder of AIDA (Autism Inclusiveness Direct Action Group); Documentary Filmmaker. 

16.  Malaysian Rare Disorders Society. 

17.  Nori Abdullah Badawi, We Rock the Spectrum Kid’s Gym, Kita Family Podcast, Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia.  

18.  Desiree Kaur, Founder, Project Haans; President, Kiwanis Club of TTDI; Kita Family podcast. 

19.  Nik Nadia Nik Mohd Yusoff, Autisme Malaysia, Kita Family Podcast. 

20.  Dr Choy Sook Kuen, Oasis Place, Kita Family Podcast. 

21.  Vicky Chan, Deafblind advocate. 

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.