Finally, Singapore has our very first school for autistic children! Pathlight School was officially opened yesterday, with a new campus is in Ang Mo Kio. The school was built at a cost of $34 million, $26 million of which was from the Ministry of Education. The school has more than 500 autistic students aged between six and 18. It has 45 classrooms with observation rooms, and even a retail mall selling products designed by students.
The school uses different teaching methods to prepare students for vocational jobs, the Primary School Leaving Examination and General Certificate of Education examinations. Education Minister and Second Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, who graced the opening ceremony, said: “When you have a child who is not quite completely focused and may disrupt the class but has other needs, how do you handle? One, you can take the child out of the class. For some, they may need special schools.” And now, parents of children with special needs finally have that option.