Kuala Lumpur, 17 December 2025: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and the IDEAS Autism Centre (IAC) today released a brief on the outcomes of IAC’s specialist teacher training and further opportunities to support the education of children with autism. The brief Advancing Outcomes for Children with Autism through Educator Training provides the early returns from Project Sinar, exploring how training can improve classroom experiences and how it can be built upon to address similar needs for teachers and children across Malaysia.

Project Sinar — an IAC initiative supported by Yasasan Sime Darby and the Ministry of Education — has so far trained over 400 special schools’ teachers across five states and one territory, equipping them with the knowledge and practical skills to support a better education experience for children with autism. It is a vitally beneficial investment in consolidating, sharing and systematising hands-on learnings from IAC’s experience teaching children with autism — institutionalising training to support teachers and students on a shared education journey.

The results to date have been overwhelmingly positive. Training participants demonstrate increased knowledge and report the application of practical skills in classroom settings. Teacher knowledge across states and territories also appears more equal after training, improving standardisation and inclusiveness across Malaysia.

Feedback from trainees, parents and wider education system stakeholders has identified opportunities for continued training refinement and overwhelming demand to extend its reach. There is significant need and will to extend training to more parts of Malaysia, to additional education stakeholders, to general stream teachers, and to older children among others.

“Project Sinar provides a proof-of-concept for specialist training that can be adapted to support thousands more teachers and children across Malaysia. ” said Dr. Stewart Nixon, the author of the brief and Director of Research at IDEAS.

There are equally significant opportunities for greater investment in research and advocacy to help identify further opportunities to advance autism education. The brief highlights acute needs including to understand autism prevalence, shortages of skilled professionals, how to advance holistic education journeys supported by parents, teachers and health professionals, and the education experiences and pathways for higher-functioning children with autism.

“It is a great privilege and joy to see how a purposefully crafted education journey can improve the lives of people with autism and their families. Project Sinar has enabled IAC to begin spreading our accumulated experience to more educators in the hope of reaching many more children.” said Sanne Jansen, Director Fundraising & Partnerships at IAC.

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For enquiries, please contact:
Ryan Panicker
Assistant Manager, Advocacy and Events
T: 03 – 2070 8881/8882 | E: ryannesh@ideas.org.my