The Zero-Reject Policy in Special Education: A Critique Review

The Zero Reject Policy (ZRP) is a policy that is in line with the No children Left behind (NCLB) (2001) policy. It focuses on providing special needs students (SNS) equal access to education. This intention is in line with the aspiration of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2015 which provides access to education of all children in Malaysia, which calls for the higher enrollment of SNS in mainstream schools across the country. On the other hand, there are issues pertaining the management and administration of special education, specifically to cater for low functioning student (LFS) enrolment. In this regard, in order to care of LFS, there is a need for a holistic approach to education based on their ability and skills. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine issues related to catering to SNS as part of the ZRP. The emerging issues include teachers‟ competence in dealing with SNS, specifically in the mainstream classrooms, teachers‟ preparedness and acceptance of LFS with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), limited source of instrumentation and lack of expertise. Therefore, several possible initiatives have been proposed, including providing systematic training to improve teacher competence, the preparation of assessment guidelines, and collaborating with SNS experts to construct a virtual platform application. Further studies can be done to examine the real needs in managing and administrating special education. Such research can help to develop a more integrated, relevant and holistic education system so that LFS can gain more access to education in line with the ZRP objectives as outlined by the MOE