The 29th Executive Development Programme for Senior Government Officers (EDPSGO) under the Community Outreach Programme (COP) organised by Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) held a ceremony to deliver incentives to people with disabilities, Orang Kelainan Upaya (OKU), and certificate of appreciation for the stakeholders, employers, and the sponsors for the Ikhlas Project.
Present as the Guest of Honour for the event was Yang Mulia Dr. Siti Norkhalbi binti Haji Wahsalfelah, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Also present were Dato Paduka Haji Mohd Alimin bin Haji Abdul Wahab, President of the Council for the Welfare of Persons with Different Abilities (MKOKU); Tuan Eddy Fazlin bin Haji Amdan, Head of Special Education Unit, Special Education Department; and senior officers from Manpower Planning and Employment Council (MPEC) and Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB).
The ceremony this morning commenced with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah. It was then followed by the Guest of Honour delivering incentives to the people with disabilities and giving certificate of appreciation to the stakeholders both from the government and non-government agencies, including employers and the sponsors for the Ikhlas Project.
The project Ikhlas is aimed to help people with disabilities to be employed in local restaurants and to empower the group to be able to be independent even with limited capabilities. In addition, it is hoped that the awareness of the public to create a more inclusivee society for people with disabilities to increase. The project was carried out in early February 2022, for which a total of 12 individuals with disabilities who graduated from the pre-vocational program under the Department of Special Education, Ministry of Education have participated in the Ikhlas project. The Ikhlas project has involved several government and non-government agencies such as The Department of Special Education, Ministry of Education; Manpower Planning and Employment Council (MPEC); the Council for the Welfare of Persons with Different Abilities (MKOKU) and Brunei Food and Beverage Association (BFBA). In addition, a total of 4 restaurants have participated in this project such as SCR Xpress, Sate House Restaurant, Ar Ruhma Restaurant and Catering and Zaitoon Biryani and Grills. The incentive contributions for candidates in the form of work necessities tools for this project were sponsored by Datastream Digital Sdn Bhd, Progresif and Imagine. The project also received sponsorship from Borneo United and UBD Corp for the implementation of the ceremony this morning.
