KUALA LUMPUR: Ukraine First Lady, Maryna Poroshenko, today toured the Permata Kurnia Centre, a platform providing pre-school education and early intervention for children with autism.
Poroshenko is on an official three-day visit to Malaysia with her husband Ukraine president Petro Poroshenko.
Poroshenko and her entourage spent an hour touring the centre which teaches 260 children, aged two to seven, at Jalan Sentul.
She was briefed on the system of education, as well as raising methods and attitudes to children with special needs in Malaysia.
They also viewed a video presentation and were briefed on the Permata programme, an agency under the Prime Minister's Department handling early childhood education.
The parties discussed the system of work with children with special needs in Malaysia and the need for early intervention to ensure that children receive proper education.
The delegates discussed issues concerning teaching children with special needs in ordinary schools.
Poroshenko and the delegates then spent time with the children at the learning room. She also visited the gym, music and intervention rooms.
Also present were Permata Foundation board of trustees’ member Datuk Seri Siti Azizah Sheikh Abod, special adviser at the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, and Datin Norazlina Awang Had, spouse of the Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
The first of its kind in the country, the Permata Kurnia centre, with an allocation of RM26 million for its establishment, began operations in December last year.
Introduced in 2006, the Permata programme has been nominated for the 3G (Global Good Governance) Children Welfare Award by Cambridge IF Analytica United Kingdom, in recognition of its contributions towards the holistic development of children.
The Ukrainian president and his wife is on a three-day official visit to Malaysia from Aug 3 to Aug 5.
This is the first visit by a Ukrainian President to Malaysia and marks the elevation of ties between the two nations.