Teachers visit Golden Chicks
By Lyna Mohammad

The Special Education Unit being briefed on the process

More than 30 of the 60 teachers from the Special Education Unit, Ministry of education (MOE), made a visit to Golden Chicks Abattoir (GCA) Sdn Bhd yesterday morning. The educational visit, which was headed by Mr Anthony Liew Vun Chiang, Deputy Head of Special Education Unit MOE, was part of the teachers Pre-Vocational Induction Course for the year 2003. Meeting the group upon arrival was GCA Manager, Awg Bohari Dasain and Operation Executive, Ak Hj Mohd Zulkarnaen. Before taking the group on a tour of the abattoir, the GCA Manager briefed them on the history and operations of the plant.

Mr Anthony Liew stated that the main objective was to expose teachers to the MOE Pre-Vocational Education Programme and to make them understand the openings in the industry as far as job placement or attachment was concerned. Pre-Vocational School is attended by students who are educationally challenge, such as a slow learners, Down's syndrome, autism and so on.

He further noted that hopefully with the exposure, the teachers could then pass their knowledge to the special children, where there is a possibility for their independence should they have the interest to go for the attachment programme at GCA.

According to Awg Bohari, the first job attachment was in 2002, where initially 3 participants were sent by the MOE and after their attachment period ended, all 3 were offered employment but only one accepted the post. He also said that during the attachment, the teacher of the participants came weekly to the abattoir to monitor the progress of the student as well as gather feedback from GCA staff.

The group was taken for a tour to the slaughtering area and witnessed the abattoir's compliance to Halal/Haram slaughtering and monitoring as well as the defeathering process.

They also had the opportunity to interview the successful candidate and ask how his progress was coming along since the job placement. The teachers have so far made educational trips to Sunraise Bakery, Rimbunan Hijau Workshop, Hua Ho Warehouse and several secondary schools including the Jefri Bolkiah Engineering College in Kuala Belait.

"So far, the scheme has benefited the company, the Ministry, the participant and the community as a whole. We fully support the job placement scheme and welcome future participation from the Ministry of Education," said Awg Bohari.

Courtesy of Sunday Bulletin