TVET as an alternative pathway to employment for the disabled

The programs are relevant to the needs of employers, which produces graduates who are ready to work immediately.

TVET normally focuses on preparing groups of youths and adults either at selected schools, colleges, or tertiary institutions.

This is crucial as the global youth unemployment rate is at 16% in 2022, which is much higher than the overall unemployment rate.

In Malaysia, the youth unemployment rate for 2022 is 11.70%, thus the need to expand well-performing TVET systems is particularly urgent and even greater to ensure smooth job transitions.

Somehow, the workplace is inclusive mainly for the normal youth, and prior to that, the experiences of exclusion by people with disabilities are denied.

The disabled persons become the marginalized group in the labor market, where they are unemployed, underemployed, or economically inactive.

It is still a stigma that the disabled people are presumed to be helpless, unable to care for themselves, or unable to make their own decisions.

The sad part is that individuals with disabilities are frequently mocked and ridiculed. This happens because of social attitudes and traditions in a specific context or organization.

In reality, some of them are capable of doing the work like normal people.

A review of employer surveys shows that employers valued people with disabilities for their motivation and diverse perspectives, and found their attendance records to be comparable or better.

Approaches to inclusiveness in the workplace consequently need to be revamped so that there is a task of making workplaces more inclusive for people with disabilities.

The more important thing is that there should be opportunities to develop the skills of disabled people through TVET.

This is in line with the UNESCO mission, under article V, which states that individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities should be provided with educational opportunities for them to have qualifications for any occupation that enables them to take part in the workforce.

Within Malaysia's context, TVET for disabled children was introduced to help them acquire certain skills. It is important to expose disabled learners to TVET so that they can advance their academic qualifications like others.

They have also been classified as special education students in The Education Blueprint and have the opportunity to further their studies.

With such qualifications, they are able to be hired and earn a living in the future. At present, there are 1295 TVET-based higher institutions offered by 11 ministries across the nation.

From that, 640 are public, 633 are private institutions, and 22 states-owned institutions offer various TVET-based programs.

Thus, it is timely to establish a quota system that stipulates a certain percent of the enrollment at universities or colleges for people with disabilities.

As educational institutions often focus on teaching technical skills that they know how to provide, there should be a paradigm on teaching cognitive, digital, and entrepreneurship skills, which have exceptional insight into disabled students' needs.

Academicians must be knowledgeable and keep on pace to handle and deal with disabled students. Non-disabled students should be taught to accept disabled students as their counterparts and should not be discriminated against.

It is important to educate society about disabled people, how to understand them, and the challenges they face in order for them to be accepted and treated normally in society.

Above all, parents are the main key players in this issue. They play a greater role in the education of their children because they know their children better.

Raising a child with a disability is a challenge to them. Overall, parents of children with disabilities may experience negative stimulus, estrangement, and sinewy stress.

Such parents usually require help in order to reorganize their lives towards positive adaptation. Thence, the sequence and time needed for adjustment are different for every parent.

They should not have a whole gamut of emotions and hide their disabled children in the closet.

Parents should be proud of having this gift from God. At the same time, parents of children with disabilities need to be supported by every member of society.

Disability is not equated with inability. Children with severe particular needs should be given whatever support they need.

They can take control of their lives, live on safely, happily, and healthily to navigate at the expected pace.

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Associate Professor Dr Kais Amir Kadhim and Dr Abdul Mutalib Embong are lecturers from the English Learning Centre (ELC), Centre for Foundation and Continuing Education (PPAL), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT).