Making Equal Employment Opportunity Possible
September 25, 2019
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Key Takeaways
- Turning 13 this year, the Sunway Job Training Programme continues to train students with learning disorder, allowing them to discover their potential as well as gaining working experience.
“I want to make my family happy. Having to earn my own income, I understand how difficult it is for my parents to put food on the table. I want to keep on working, and keep providing for my family just as my parents did,” said Aiman, who is a member of a social enterprise, Generating Opportunities for the Learning Disables (GOLD).
Since 2006, Sunway Group has been collaborating with GOLD and SMK Bandar Sunway to organise the Sunway Job Training Programme annually.
Another GOLD alumnus, Bryan Wong, discovered his passion for baking after joining the programme. In 2011, he worked at Sunway Resort Hotel’s in-house Matahari cafe for six months.
Bryan, one of GOLD alumni.
Juairiah Hj Johari, founder and advisor of GOLD
“People are intimidated because they fear what they don’t understand. Many are ignorant to an individual’s capabilities. If the public is educated enough, then there is nothing to fear. As the saying goes, ‘Tak kenal maka tak cinta’.“If all of us can show sincerity in wanting to help, things can be better for them,” said Juairiah, who has 28 years of experience in teaching children with special needs. Juairiah said the Sunway Job Training Programme provides students with learning disorders an opportunity to gain working experience and self-confidence which is important for them to gain employment in the future. The through this programme, it is easier for them to assimilate into the working world because they are able to know what is expected of them at the workplace. Since its establishment in 2006, the programme has graduated 120 students from all walks of life. Following the success
Job Training Programme graduates receiving their certificates during the Special Education Conference 2018 at Sunway University after a 6-month long training.
“It’s important that we provide them with this job training because they may not be as fortunate as students who can afford to further their studies,” Chef Cheng said.
“My team and I taught these students how to bake Viennese cookies that they could sell to corporations, which could be used to generate sustainable financial income,” she said.
Ultimately, it is Chef Cheng’shope that the GOLD students who undergo the programme are able to land careers in the hospitality industry and be financially stable in the long run.
She believes that the programme speaks well of Sunway’s commitment towards corporate social responsibility as what Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO has always quoted, “Doing well by doing good.”
“People will look at Sunway and see it as an organisation that is socially responsible and gives a lot back to society. And that’s a noble thing,” she said.
In a snapshot:
- Learning disabilities or learning disorder are neurologically-based processing problems that interfere with a person’s ability to learn basic skills such as reading, writing, counting.
- These problems also affect higher level skills such as organisation, time-planning, abstract reasoning, long or short-term memory and attention.
- According to the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia, there are 157,733 Malaysians with learning disabilities as of 2017.
RELATED SDGs
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG) is a set of
global priorities to put the world on a sustainable path by 2030.
It serves as a criterion for Sunway’s business actions and the measurement
of our
impact.
