Kan Fook Keong

Kan is a special education teacher with 8 years of teaching experience at Keningau Vocational College in Sabah.

Despite being originally from Seremban, Kan chose to teach at a vocational school in the rural areas of Sabah since 2012. He is deeply committed to his students and trains them for competitions using sign language in sports and painting. This dedication has resulted in their participation in several innovation contests and the attainment of a significant number of medals.

He continually faces various challenges, including managing his students’ emotions as some of them have difficulty handling and expressing their feelings, which can impact their behavior and responses in the classroom. Through these challenging experiences, he has learned to adapt his teaching styles to accommodate different students’ needs and learning preferences.

Kan is also committed to his students’ well-being and initiated a food project that prepares vegan meals for them to promote a healthier lifestyle with minimal environmental impact. He took this step after discovering that many of his students were either vegetarians or vegans.

His unwavering dedication to his students has earned him the 2023 Special Education Network and Inclusion Association (SENIA) World Changer Award, which recognizes individuals who actively promote inclusion in their communities.

Making an impact is taking care of human and animal welfare and ensuring that all humans have equal rights.