Extend help to all special needs schools offering vocational training

A new school-to-work transition programme for pupils with special needs will begin this year, and it is laudable that things are moving forward for them. (“More training options to help special needs students get jobs”; April 16)

There are 20 special education (SPED) schools receiving funding from the Ministry of Education, and it was reported that only Delta Senior School and Metta School offer national vocational certification programmes for pupils with mild intellectual disability.

There is another vocational school that caters for a diverse range of pupils with special needs, which was established in 1975 and which seems to have been left out.

It was formerly known as Vocational School for the Handicapped and was renamed Mountbatten Vocational School in 2006. It is an approved training centre offering Institute of Technical Education Skills Certificate courses.

Ironically, it is not one of the SPED schools listed under the ministry.

The Association for Persons with Special Needs’ Delta Senior School has a new S$18-million, 12,000 sq m campus in Choa Chu Kang. The new facilities and infrastructure will give pupils a better environment for vocational training.

Like Delta Senior School and Metta School, Mountbatten Vocational School offers post-secondary vocational training. Its pupils are aged between 14 and 21 years, and it offers work-based placements.

However, it does not have the facilities nor resources comparable to those of the other two schools.

Most have never heard of the school. Perhaps the best help for special needs students is to extend it where they need it most.